


Follow Me Down

by ehcanuck



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Bad Touch Trio, Bonding, Fantasy, Fantasy World, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Magic, Minor Violence, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Mythology - Freeform, Pairings If You Squint, Saving the World, Whump, Zodiac, non-sexual bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-10-17
Updated: 2013-01-18
Packaged: 2017-11-24 02:03:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/629102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ehcanuck/pseuds/ehcanuck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Francis, Antonio and Gilbert are the last members of the 12 Guardians, an ancient partnership between the mages and the demons created 900 years ago to protect both their nation of magic and the Wild Court from the Nichacs, a neighbouring country.<br/>Mentored by the amnesiac Ludwig and his partner, the only survivors of the event that caused the fall of the Guardians a century prior, they do their best to learn but are considered as failures as they have yet to summon their partners. But when a spell goes wrong, they are soon are caught up in events greater then they could ever imagined.<br/>Many characters involved, pairings if you squint.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Hetalia, only my plot.

_Since the beginnings of recorded history at Sarya, the Saryens and their Western neighbours, the Nichacs, have been in conflict._

_At first it had been a case of ideology, the Nichacs believing in many almighty gods and goddesses while the Saryens believed in spirits looking after the land. Then their conflict escalated and evolved into the Nichacs believing in nothing (after a severe drought) and turning to science instead, hating anything that could not be explained through rationality or with science and would try to destroy it. Considering that Sarya was the magic capital of the world, they were at the top of the list. Then, in their greed to grow stronger and more powerful, the Nichacs abused the land, making it dry, infertile and nearly uninhabitable. When combined, it is obvious what happened when they turned their eyes to the East and saw their hated neighbours enjoying lush forest and fertile Earth._

_Soon the vast armies of Nichac could be heard coming to destroy the city and in a moment of despair, the Head Mage of Sarya went out into the forest and into the court of the Wild._

_After suffering many trials, he at last gained an audience with the Queen of the Wild Folk (of demons, elementals and monsters) and made a pact. They would work together to avoid mutual destruction of their homes, culture and children at the hands of the blood-thirsty Westerners. For it was obvious to all those present that they had just as much a reason to fear the Nichacs as the Saryens did; for their very existence was viewed as unscientific and as an abomination under the sun._

_So the two great forces clashed on the Great Plain outside the city; where, after weeks of fighting, the Saryens and Wild Folk won but at a very heavy price. Nichac retreated back over the mountains to lick its wounds and brood while the other two nations strove to rebuild what was lost, keeping an ever vigilant eye to the West._

_Knowing that Nichac would not remain quiet forever, the High Mage and Wild Queen worked a great spell, the likes of which have never been seen again, tying the fate of their peoples together. Twelve youths from Sarya and twelve of the Wilds would be bond together as partners and act as guardians for the realm under the protection of the twelve Zodiac. The Wilds's chosen were placed under the signs of the ancient calendar while Sarya's representatives were ordered under that signs that governed the stars. Both would bear the mark of their sign somewhere on their body and, as a proof of their partnership, upon the sealing of their bond, the other mark would appear with their own._

_Part of the spell also caused the transference of abilities so the two groups could truly work together. The Saryens would share the long lifespans and weaker versions of their partner's abilities just as the demon/elemental/monster would gain the ability to do small magic and assume human form. The Wild summoned would become the Rochben or Knight and their partner, the mage, would become the Námo, the Judge._

_When one pair of guardians passed away (they were so tied together that one could not live long without the other), a Saryen child under six would gain the mark of the Zodiac of the one lost. They would then undergo years of harsh training when at nine or older they would then go outside the city's protective barrier and magically call for their destined other half. With the balancing Zodiac mark would appear on their skin, they would be considered a full-fledged guardian._

_This system was held in place for centuries, with the guardians repelling minor threats and becoming a revered force until a century ago, there was an upset. At the time every destined child since the beginning, had found their chosen partner by eleven but the new Scorpio Guard had yet to successfully summon his. As the ceremony dictated, he again went out (as he had for three years) on the eve of his next birthday and again called for his Rochben._

_The surviving guards reported all the torches suddenly going out, a scream before they were attacked and left for dead on the ground._

_The guardian had disappeared._

_Then, to make matters worse, the Demon Crown Prince was the one to discover the scene and had appeared in the National Assembly demanding to know where his Námo was. It took a few weeks before they were at last able to track down the lost one to a house on the outskirts of the city, where the strongest mage Sarya had, lived. She was determined to keep the boy as her own and to do so had interfered with the last three attempts and then kidnapped him, keeping him imprisoned by the most powerful of spells._

_A great fight broke out before the Prince was able to break the enchantments, freeing the boy and then completed the bond between the two, tying them together as Guardians. Together they defeated her but in the last spell a great explosion took place. Three guardian pairs were found dead in the ruins but the rest were nowhere to be seen and the witch escaped. She went into the forest and destroyed the ancient Court of the Wild, scattering about the survivors._

_Knowing only that it had been a Saryen Witch to attack them, it is said that the other Demon Prince cursed Sarya for breaking their promise and reneging their oath. Every year since, not once has it passed without some new disaster falling upon them and those who now venture to far out into the forest disappear, victims to the vengeful Wild Ones and the Guardians did not protect them. After the dreadful fight, they had all disappeared, with only one pair ever coming back to the city, with no memories of what had happened to them_

_Or so the story goes._


	2. Chapter 2

Antonio was beyond frustrated.

For those that knew him, the fact that the boy was even capable of feeling such a negative emotion was a surprise.

Yet, the normally cheerful and sunny boy was sitting inside and brooding.

He would be seventeen tomorrow.

Now to most, this would be something to celebrate, not get depressed about. It would be a day to go outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather, be with family and friends and drink oneself stupid on beer.

Not for him. This was a hated day, just as it was for his two best friends, Francis and Gilbert. They were also moping about tomorrow for the exact same reason.

At first, everyone in Sarya had been overjoyed when the three, born on the same day, were **born** with the marks of the Zodiac, something that had never happened before. People began whispering that perhaps the Wild Prince had removed the curse, after all their marks were of the three who had died more than five decades before. However, despite them being very intelligent and the top magic users of the city, (besides the High Mage and the remaining guardian pair) they had yet to summon their other half, something **else** that had never happened before.

Everyone tried to reassure the dejected trio but with every passing year, the worried looks and whispers became louder and louder. _They would never get their Rochben,_ the rumours said, _those of the Wild have forsaken us, and their purpose is done. This is just part of the curse, to give them hope and take it away. They were false prophets, made to give them hope. Deceivers. Useless._

Gilbert's great uncle Ludwig being the last Guardian (the Taurus), and his water elemental partner Feliciano, the Rabbit, did their best to comfort them, telling them that they weren't 'defective' or 'useless' but rather that perhaps their chosen had been scattered so far away they couldn't hear their calls.

Little did they know they had only added fuel to the fire as the trio's mutterings then began to include about how their other half couldn't hear their call because they were dead and buried.

Antonio buried his face into his knees. His heart psychically _hurt_. He'd seen his neighbours grow up, date, go to parties, marry, live life with a purpose, actually _live_! He was stuck in a gilded cage, bound to a job by fate that he could never do and his only purpose in life, taken.

He'd be forever alone and pitied.

Tonight would only be a confirmation of that. After ten years of trying it wasn't difficult to believe that they would once again be met with disappointment at the ritual that night. He couldn't imagine anything different.

* * *

 

Night had fallen and the trio made their way once more towards the ends of the protective barrier around the city. They were alone, the Council had long since stopped sending guards with them, rather only sending someone to ensure that they went.

Antonio looked at the moon with a sigh, he wasn't sure why they even bothered to do that, didn't they know by now that this was never going to work?

At last passing the limits of the city, the trio entered the fringes of the forest, heading towards a clearing located a few hundred meters in. Nothing bothered them and by the light of the moon, they began to set up the calling spell.

Before they would've had help to see through the gloom, torches held by guards or assistants. Now they had naught but the stars and the moon. Which they preferred, in all honesty.

Better having less witnesses to their failure.

This time, deciding it best to get it over with, they made only one spell circle, changing the specifics to accommodate the three of them. Stepping carefully over the lines drawn – after all erase one and it could go from a calling spell to a transfiguration one. Once safely inside, the three sat back to back in a meditating position, eyes closed, legs crossed with palms face up on the knees.

Quietly Francis whispered “Ready?”

The other two, just as quiet said resignedly, “Yes.”

“Then let us commence.”

Simultaneously – that was important or else they could be blown to bits by magical backlash – the trio drew on the wellsprings of magic they possessed and began to pour it into the circle and into the spell.

Soon, jet black tendrils of light (a paradox that suited Gilbert) began to wind around ribbons of regal violet-blue and sunny golden rays as each concentrated on the string of words flowing from their lips and went deeper into the spell.

It felt as it always did, the spell that is. They felt the waves of longing crash over them and emptiness rush in as the spell made them feel as though they were being tugged this way and that. As the work deepened, the magic made them feel as though the holes inside them had been filled (though they knew it to be temporary) and any watching would have been astounded by the change in their features. Lines worn into still young features smoothed, tense muscles relaxed and the ever present frowns vanished as rare smiles graced their lips. On the other hand, the spell was going as it always had, they were halfway through the summoning and none of them could feel the mental pressure of their partner.

Looks like this year would be another of disappointment.

Even though he had been expecting it, Gilbert felt his heart sink at that but not so much for him.  He was resigned to this but he knew, _he knew_ that his great uncle would be heartbroken for him. He knew that each year Ludwig and Feli would sit in the living room the entire night, watching the door and cake on the coffee table. Since his seventh birthday, they had done this, ready to celebrate his triumphant return only to break out the ice cream (and as they got older, beer) instead when he came back alone again.

Then he felt a change, though not one he had been hoping for. Instead of the working slowing down as it typically did, it accelerated and began to draw more and more power from them.

Eyes flicking to the right, he saw to his growing horror that they had not included limiters in the spell. This meant that once the spell was started it would only stop either when complete or it consumed their power and their life force.

What a way to go.

Worst of all, once a spell is started, unless it required movement, the caster was immobilized so he was unable to signal to his best friends that something was wrong.

A few moments later though he felt one pair of shoulders then the other stiffen beside him and their breathing accelerate. As the glow from the circle banished all shadows from the clearing and just as he felt the last dregs of his power burn up, the threads tying him to the working suddenly snapped. He sighed in relief just as two things happened.

One, some of their glowing magic branched off from the circle and began to hover in the air, forming a swirling sphere and two, a great shriek of rage rent the air, send shivers up his spine.

Now completely adrenaline high, Gilbert watched the glowing circle like a hawk while his ears listened for any sound. He could not tell where that shriek had come from but he didn't like it. His nerves on edge and singing danger at him, he jumped about a meter in the air as a few bodies suddenly came rocketing through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So just in case it wasn't clear in the earlier chapter, the mages/Námos have Astronomical Zodiac (so Aries, Taurus, etc.) whereas their partner/Rochben are the Chinese Zodiac. It was decided by personality, I tried to give the best fit possible – though all description are ones I've found online... Anyway, with that in mind – see if you can't guess who's who for the other 11.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Here are the Zodiac explanations for this chappie:
> 
>  **Ludwig: Taurus.** Taurus's are dependable, hard-working stubborn, generous, creative, methodical, strong, sincere and loyal people. They are very private, preferring to keep their thoughts to themselves and listen rather then mindlessly babble and have all their facts before making a decision. This trait of not being rash, may make them appear slow but they will choose what they believe to be the right road and will stick to it until the very end. As an Earth sign, Taurus's tend to also be well-grounded, boring, dominant, responsible, giving, conservative, organized, stubborn, perfectionists and family-oriented.
> 
>  **Feliciano: Rabbit.** Rabbits are creative, compassionate, sensitive, friendly, outgoing, expressive, sympathetic, affectionate, optimistic, courteous, resourceful, diplomatic and naive people. They're easily taken advantage as they want to believe in the best in people and hate conflict, prefer to just go with the flow – let others be in charge and are very dependent on family and friends emotionally. However, when pushed to it they are resilient and stubborn, have the strength to endure much.


	3. Chapter 3

Shielding their eyes from the bright light, the Trio gaped at the portal just as a few figures came rocketing through.

A great wind kept them back, just as the light that prevented them from seeing just what had come through began to dim. As soon as the light was nearly gone and it was mostly the torches illuminating the clearing, they were able to see these monstrous black shadowy figures with a large red hourglass on their backs.

Squinting to get a closer look as to just what they had dragged through the portal, Gilbert recoiled in horror upon seeing their great claws dripping in demonic dark green and royal blue creature blood and that they had no eyes or noses, just great maws for mouths filled with hundreds of jagged teeth.

He had never seen anything like this.

They had studied all sorts of demons and creatures they might ever encounter during their Tenure as Guardians. In fact, they were considered the go-to experts when others deigned to speak with them. And yet, and yet, here stood some creature that he did not know and judging by the looks on his friends faces, they didn't either.

Well. That was wonderful. Just GREAT! This wasn't supposed to be happening! Now they would be known not only as failures of guardians but also as the ones who managed to screw up a simple summoning spell and forcefully transport some sort of demon over here (a novice mistake!). Even worse, they would likely be killed by their mistake if the creatures’ appearance was anything to go by!

Then, just in those seconds, he heard it.

Two heartrendingly, pain-filled shouts of “PRINCE!”

Eyes darting to the source of sound, he saw two figures in the centre, surrounding by the hideous beasts, looking completely different from the others. Both had surely seen better days. There was a large fox with numerous yellow tails with black tips, his claws and teeth covered in black gunk (the unknown creatures’ blood?) and fire floating around it, blue blood matting its fur. Likely a seven or eight tail fox from what he could see. Nope, there was a ninth tail, he realized shocked, this was a Kitsune! The powerful creatures hadn't been seen since the disappearance of the Guardians.

Beside him appeared to be a surprisingly good-looking feral teen (though ages were difficult to peg with demons), teeth bared, clawed and webbed fingers holding two small knives. His body was covered in some sort of strange furred skin and his eyes were wild as they looked around, before he jumped at the nearest figure, tearing it apart. Considering his appearance and the sudden storm clouds rolling in, this was probably a selkie. They hadn't been seen in even longer, having disappeared into their watery homes since the end of the war with the Nichacs.

How curious to see both here, considering the long absence of both their kinds.

Luckily for them, neither the shadow creatures nor the selkie or nine-tailed fox seemed to notice their presence yet. They could work this to their advantage, Gilbert decided, if they helped the two, which was the right thing to do anyway, they could maybe begin to make amends with the Court of the Wild. If the two would put in a good word for them with Prince, perhaps the curse would be lifted and they at last would find their Rochben!

Though tired, Gilbert, catching the eyes of the other two, signed some attack spell signs in the air (with no power yet) to communicate his intentions.

The other two nodded and on the count of three, they quickly summoned what little remained of their  power for Antonio and Francis to create a barrier around the two struggling Wilds, protecting them against what Gilbert was about to do, unleash a torrential rain of fire onto the sinister shadow creatures.

Collapsing onto the ground, they waited with bated breath as the flames grew, then died down. Sighing in relief as those sinister demon creatures were gone and no return attack was forth coming, Francis collapsed onto the grass only to look up into a pair of very curious, wide green eyes.

The selkie began to speak melodiously, drawing Francis in. “Excuse me, but as you three seem to be the only ones in the area, could please tell me where the rest of those shadow puppets have gone or the rest of the Wild Court?”

Trying not to be drawn in by the selkie's aura, Francis struggled to get enough moisture in his mouth to answer. “I don't understand what you are asking, the Wild Court? They have not been seen for a long time, not since they cursed us. We were just using a summoning circle to try and find our Rochben but instead something went very wrong and you two and the others came through instead”

Before either of them could try and figure anything more out, an annoyed voice snarled.

“What are _you_ looking at?!”

The Nine tailed fox was now looming over the fallen Antonio, in fact, they were almost nose to nose. Antonio, though exhausted, was slowly trying to crawl backwards without breaking eye contact as he knew the dangers of being close to an angered Kitsune. He liked his limbs where they were, thanks but his efforts were quickly put to an end when the Nine-tailed fox brought one claw very close to his neck.

The selkie straightened with a sigh. “Lovino. What are you doing?”

“I don't like the look of this bastard! He was staring at me! Look at his eyes! So shifty! And why aren't you more suspicious Arthur?”  He asked, turning his head ever so slightly to bring the Selkie into view without moving his teeth and claws away from Antonio's throat. “The Prince threw two bits at us and told us to guard it just as he finished the spell. Next thing you know, we're overwhelmed by enemies, the Prince is gone and these three just _happen_ show up? Bullshit.” He accented his last word by pressing his paw onto Antonio's chest and bringing his teeth verrrrry close to the hapless mage's throat. So much so little beads of red could be seen blooming, just where the points of his teeth were.

Gilbert and Francis dared not (and couldn't really anyway) move in defence of their friend, so close was he to an extremely painful end.

Arthur just sighed and put a hand on his temple, muttering. “This is why I prefer not to work with demons, so _oblivious_.” Walking over, he crouched down to the Fox's eye-level and said. “I can tell from reading the lingering magic in the air, we've likely come forward in time and did you not hear what the other said? They were trying to summon their Rochben and something went wrong. There's no need to be suspicious of these three, _especially_...” he said with a glare, “when they've put themselves at our mercy by saving us. Or could you not tell that they completely depleted their energy and magic? The one who you have probably would've run if he could rather than just crawl backwards.”

Blinking slowly, it seemed to dawn on the irritable fox the logic behind this and he jerked his head up, snapping his teeth shut with a clank and snapped. “S-Shut up bastard! I guessed that, I just wanted to see if you would!”

Meanwhile, Antonio's mind had just entered into an exhausted fog. This, of course, being the result of being in mortal peril not once but twice in the matter of minutes and also from having been depleted of all of his magic and most of his energy. So what followed could be said to not entirely be his fault but instead the product of delirium that pushed his self-preservation instincts to the back of his mind and destroyed any semblance of impulse control.

Drunkenly, Antonio reached up with one hand, past the sharp teeth and scratched the fox's right ear and muttered in awe. “So soft~”

In a second, the fox had whipped its head back down and was millimetres away from the other.

“What. Do. You. Think. You. Are. Doing. You. Bastard?”

Then Antonio reached up with the other hand so as to ruffle both ears with an enormous grin before he gently grabbed his ears and leaned forward to give the stunned Demon Fox a kiss on the nose.

What happened after came as a surprise to all present.

There was a hissing sound, somewhat similar to the sound of air leaking out of a balloon as out of nowhere a glowing circle appeared under the duo and winds began to whip around them. Then smoke began to gather and with a flash of light, the clearing was again dark and quiet.

“Well that was unexpected.” Commented Arthur drily as the smoke began to clear.

“No shit Sherlock.” Came the agitated Fox's voice from the fog. “What just happened?”

Gilbert (having the best night vision of the three) croaked out. “Toni... You...You just! You just sealed the bond! That cranky fox was your Rochben!”

“WHAT!” Lovino screeched.

And so it was.

With all the smoke gone and the small torch still giving off light, the others could see sitting on the prone mage where the fox had been was now a pale boy. He had auburn hair, golden eyes, sharp nails and a strange curl in a golden- orange pair of shorts.

In fact, Gilbert's hysterical mind noted the similarity between him and Feliciano, which was odd considering the other was a water elemental not a Nine-tailed fox demon.

Francis, now having the strength to sit up, leaned forward a little and drily commented “You seal the bond with a kiss? Why was this never mentioned to me?”

Gilbert responded “That's because no one ever told us or rather, nobody knew I guess. Apparently this part was always done in private and neither Ludwig nor Feliciano really remember so...”

Antonio, still dazed, looked at his left hand where his mark, that of Leo, was now overlapped with a Dragon, then back to the fox, then back to his hand, then back to the fox. His exhausted mind overloaded, he then passed out.

“Great. First I get an idiot as a Námo, then the jerk passes out on me.” Lovino commented before he attempted to stand, realized balancing was a lot harder on two feet and fell back onto the unconscious man.

Francis leaned back to stare at the dark clouds building across the night sky. _And they thought the night would go the same as it always had._

Little did they know, their lives were really about to change; not that they were really concerned about that as the storm wrought by the selkie's power was unleashed upon them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are the Zodiac explanations for this chappie:
> 
>  **Antonio: Leo.** Leo's are strong, generous, hard-workers, cheerful, confidant, optimistic, leaders, creative, passionate, ambitious, romantic, good-hearted and have the best intentions at heart. They get whatever it is they desire through own effort and hard work – always on their own terms and enjoy having people notice their accomplishments. As a fire sign, Leo's also tend to be fun, charming, adventurous, exciting, argumentative, popular, curious, energetic, defender, have love of challenges, protective, scholar and are loud
> 
>  **Lovino: Dragon.** Dragons are dominant, ambitious, independent, driven, passionate, short-tempered, loners, bossy, loud, intelligent, imaginative, eccentric, stubborn, and dramatic. They like being in control and love challenges, though this often can get them in a fix, they are too proud to ask for help and can seem arrogant or conceited for this. However, once committed to something, they'll fight to the end and will not be dissuaded for anything, getting absorbed into finite details. Quick and vengeful tempers and flare for the dramatic can cause them to overreact at times.


	4. Chapter 4

Well, so far, the night had not gone even close to what Francis had been expecting. In fact, he felt that his world's axis had been turned on its side albeit in a good way; which was new to him.

He was leaning up against a tree, Gilbert beside him, hiding from the rain with the Selkie sitting directly across, staring at them. Antonio was still out for the count so they had dragged him over beside them so he would also be out of the rain. The newly human formed Lovino didn't seem to care about the downpour and was still trying to figure out how exactly he was to walk around on two legs, his failures punctuated with quiet “Ooofs.” Seeing as the crotchety fox had declined any assistance, they had simply moved out of the way and to the side, seeking some shelter.

While they both knew that they needed to get somewhere safe, both Francis and Gilbert were still too drained to do more than sit up and there was another problem. The barrier erected around the city had been modified to keep any unbound Wilds out as a reaction to the legendary curse) so even if they did have any energy, they would have to leave Arthur out there, vulnerable to those shadow things and whoever was controlling them. Not being able to think of any solution, they just sat there, looking at the sky.

“So...now what?” Gilbert asked, running a hand through his wet hair and creating a shield for his face. “I don't think I will be able to walk back tonight.”

“You pushed it a little with that fire ball.” Francis lightly chided. “My pitiful shield nearly broke.”

“Yeah, well had to be sure that they stayed down. We wouldn't be able to defend ourselves if they had gotten back up.”

The Selkie stopped his studying of them to interrupt. “Hardly. What do you think Lovino and I would have done, left you there to die when you helped us?”

Gilbert looked sheepishly at the other. “Wasn't really sure what your allegiances were, after all with things as they are, you could have very possibly left us to die.”

Arthur looked sharply at him. “What? No honourable member of the Court of the Wilds would have done that!”

Francis looked at him sadly. “Things are not as they once were my friend.”

Arthur turned his steely gaze to him and said. “Tell me everything.”

* * *

 

Ludwig was concerned, fidgeting around the room.

_Gilbert should be back by now._

Feliciano watched the outside worriedly from his spot on the couch. This wasn't exactly normal as Gilbert, while he could be irresponsible, he was never late. Being on time was something Gilbert took great pride in. He looked sadly at the cake on the table than back out the window where an unnatural rain was coming in.

He was a half hour late, and Ludwig, concerned for his relative, was now getting visibly worried, something very unusual for the stoic guardian.

“Ve~ Ludwig. I don't like this. This rain isn't natural and he's been gone too long.”

Ludwig looked at the clock again, stopped his pacing and grabbed his coat with a nod. “You're right Feli, I think we've waited long enough. Put the cake in the cold box and let's go find him.” Feliciano hurried to comply and when he was beside his partner he heard Ludwig mutter ever so quietly. “I hope he hasn't done anything stupid.”

Seeing as Feliciano had his rain jacket on and had a lantern in hand, Ludwig opened the door and they stepped out into the pouring rain.

* * *

 

“...And that was it. Just like that, the Guardians were scattered and the Court was never seen again. You two are the first of the Wilds I've ever seen beside my relative’s partner, the Rabbit.”

Arthur leaned back, hand on his chin, thinking and when he spoke his tone was agitated. “I never would've imagined things could have deteriorated as much as they have, though I know neither of the Princes nor the Queen would have cursed you without substantial proof...I don't like this, something isn't right with that. We are going to need to track down the other Guardians in order to sort all this out.”

“People have looked for them for decades.” Francis answered wearily. “No trace has been found yet.”

“That's probably because they don't know what they're looking for.” Arthur answered quietly. “Or the time was not yet right. Before we went through, my Prince was casting a Spell of Protection, it is quite possible that something happened to them because of it.

Francis nodded slightly, doing his best not to jostle his shoulder where Gilbert was sleeping. Lovino, having given up walking more than across the clearing had instead concentrating on turning back and was now sleeping beside Antonio, the Leo's hand curled into his soft fur.

At least the rain was now just light drizzle, the storm the Selkie's anger had summoned slowly dissipating.

Francis closed his eyes, deciding to also try to sleep as they weren't going anywhere for a while when his ears perked a little.

“...t. G...t, Fra...onio...Gil-bert! Francis! An-tonio!” Someone was calling for them, he could see a small light bobbing along the path in the gloom

As loudly as he dared (not wanting to wake the others or alert any of the more sinister creatures that lived in the forest, he called back. “Over here!”

Evidently whoever it was heard them as the light began to move closer until two figures broke into the clearing.

Ludwig and Feliciano immediately ran over as he said worriedly “There you three are! Are you boys alright?” Fretting as he normally would, he gently picked up Gilbert who groggily woke up and began giving him a one over for injuries while Feli did the same on Francis. “I keep telling the High Mage and the Council that need at least one person to accompany you just in case... What happened?”

“Um...we were doing the regular spell except we changed the perimeters so it would accommodate the three of us performing the spell all at once and forgot limiters.” Francis answered ashamedly, ignoring the sharp intake of breath from the Taurus and Rabbit. “And somehow we appeared to open a portal in time and pulled these two through along with a number of odd shadow demons. I've never seen the like before...”

Before Ludwig could enquire further, the water elemental at last noticed the Nine-tailed Fox curled around Antonio and the Selkie beside them.

“You-You guys finally did it!” Feliciano shouted happily waking the other two. “You summoned your partners didn't you! Oh~ Gilly, this is great! Who's your Rochben?”

“Er...I didn't summon mine Feli.” Gilbert chuckled drily, though he was happy for his friend so he couldn't bring himself to be upset. “Unless of course Artie here puckers up...”

“Sod off.” The Selkie said flatly at him.

“...And there's my answer. It was just 'Toni who found his. Though, I was kinda wondering, why didn't anyone tell us that to seal the bond, we had to kiss? That seems like a pretty important piece of information.”

“Oh.” Both Ludwig and Feliciano looked really disappointed by this, though they congratulated a bleary Antonio on his success. Then Ludwig took it upon himself to answer Gil's question. “I'm...not really sure what you're talking about. Neither Feli nor I remember anything of what happened before _it_ but because of it, we actually had to renew the bond. However, there was no kissing, I had to catch him.”

“…What?” Gilbert and Francis said simultaneously.

“Yep. He used a pasta jar.” Feli said brightly as he hugged his Námo.

Before anyone could say anything, Arthur politely coughed and said “I don't know much on the topic personally but perhaps the reason that the information varies is because the methods change? If someone were to try and bind me to them, they would have to take my skin.” He said as he pointed to the furs covering him. “And (Feli was it?), Feli is a water elemental, to bind him, you would need to trap him. I'm guessing for Lovi here is emotionally damaged as nearly all foxes are (“Like you're much better bastard” Lovino murmured) for someone to get that close in their personal bubble would offset them.”

Francis, attempting to follow the Selkie's train of thought then slowly said. “So the sealing of the bond requires the Námo to unbalance them or take advantage of the Rochben's weakness somehow? That's really...creepy. Or kinky if you're into that.”

Arthur ignored the last interjection and instead responded with, “Well if you think about it, it's a way to test the Námo so that it's certain that it is not to their disadvantage to share lifetimes with them.”

“I suppose.”

There was a period of silence before Ludwig quietly asked, a hint of fear in his tone. “So. Those shadow demons...did they look anything like that?”

The others' gaze followed to where Ludwig was pointing and jolted in fright, jumping to their feet as now between them and the safety of the barrier encircling the city was a virtual army of the creepy shadowy figures from before. There was no way that they could defeat that many, especially when three of them were so exhausted it was taking them all their energy to remain standing.

Feliciano picking up on this turned to the snarling nine-tail. “Can you carry Antonio, Gilbert and Francis? We'll stall them”

“Che. Fine. Hurry up and get on bastards...and don't expect that this will ever happen again!”

Already Antonio already seemed to have a pretty good grasp on the fox's mood and instead smiled placating and said “Duly noted, thank you Lovi.”

The fox seemed almost to...blush. Could foxes even do that? “Shut up! Not doing it for you!”

Then the fox took off through the trees as the sounds of combat began behind them.

Gilbert apparently having not having heard the second part of the pan began to squirm and tried to get off as he called out “How are they going to find us? We can't just leave them!”

“For the love of fuck.” Lovino spat out through gritted teeth. “Stop squirming or I'll _eat_ you. They'll be just fine, I'm leaving magical markers for Arthur to track.”

“Won't that mean that anyone would be able to find us?”

“Che, no! Arthur created it solely for us to use as part of the Princes' personal guard. There are only eight people in the world who could understand the code so stop your whining and moving and let me _run_ dammit!

With no more protests from those he was carrying, Lovino hurried on, weaving through the tightly grown trees. The three immediately clung tight to the fox's fur and crouched down to avoid being knocked off Gilbert, looking to the side spotted something white running off in the distance.

 _Impossible._ Rubbing his eyes, he looked again and it was gone. In that instance he thought he saw the legendary white stag that haunted these parts. Sarya held yearly hunts to try and catch him as it was foretold that whomever managed to capture it would gain great luck, fortune and fame – Gilbert and the others being forbidden from joining in though because they were Guardians... His eyes must be playing tricks on him. He didn't have a chance to really look as the trees thinned and Lovino sped up, moving at impossible speeds through the trees before, in in flash of inspiration darted into a nearby cave. Running through the tunnels in the dark was a terrifying experience in all honesty.

Having no idea how Lovino knew where he was going or even how he could even see where they were, the Trio just lay as flat as possible on his back in hopes of avoiding getting hit by any stalactites. With the speed they were going it was impossible to tell the distance they had travelled underground but in around five minutes, the mages could see the lighter night sky as they emerged into a valley.

At the mouth of the exit, Lovino jerked to a halt, causing all those on his back to groan, sniffing the air. “There is strong magic here.” He whispered out. “It doesn't seem sinister but... it makes the fur on my neck stand up. You'd best get off and walk, think you can do that imbeciles?”

Wordlessly the three got off, honestly just wanting to sleep but as they reached the edge of the hill and looked down, enormous winds came up to buffet them and pushed them back.

Lovino seemed oddly unaffected as the Trio stumbled backwards. “Curious.” he mused before he jumped down and began to run down the hill. Not wanting to be left behind the other three quickly followed, despite being met with more and more resistance the farther down they went. They soon developed a system of darting between the trees growing on the sides until they at last reached the bottom and emerged into a clearing where Lovino was looking up with wide eyes.

Following the fox's train of sight, they were also soon entranced upon seeing a hovering ball of wind and at the centre there appeared to be a swan sheltering something with her wings. It was such a sad image, yet compelling as the four tried to figure out just what happened and how it was happening.

They sat there, entranced, watching the odd sphere until dawn's light began to creep over the valley and Ludwig, Feliciano and Arthur found them. It was then that something even stranger happened, as the light hit the ball of wind, a beautiful, yet eerie voice began to be heard, croon softly to any listening a melody so filled of yearning and mourning that all present soon had tears rolling down their cheeks.

Arthur stepped closer to the odd spell and looked up and gave a small gasp. “Lovino! This is...!”

The Nine-tailed fox ran over and looked up as well and then said. “Wow, that bastard Vash managed to get himself trapped in such a spell?”

Exhausted, Francis caught both their attentions and said “Who?”

“The Aquarius Guardian, Vash and if I'm not mistaken, his partner, Lily the Ram is also in there with him. That's odd in and of itself. As a Vila, Lily should easily have enough power to disperse the spell that is holding there...” Arthur answered absentmindedly as he tried to inspect the magical working more closely.

“You know what kind of spell that is?” Antonio asked curiously. “I've never read about such a working and between the three of us, I'm sure we read the entire section in Sarya's Library on Magic...”

“It's a combination of things.” Ludwig answered, though he seemed surprised by his own knowledge. “It appears to be a defensive barrier combined with a healing spell and one to also freeze time...”

Arthur picked up where he left off. “But with no limits on the working it is unlikely that it was Vash himself that cast it. To explain, as last I was aware, he was the oldest representative of the twelve and one of the best mages ever to come out of Sarya... He would never make such a novice mistake – especially one that would leave him eternally trapped, frozen in time...Very peculiar.”

Lovino who had reared up on his back legs and had made himself bigger began to sniff the winds, getting as close he could before he sneezed. “This isn't any Saryen magic, it's Wild. It was Lily that cast this.”

“What?” Gilbert said shocked. “I thought the only one with the ability to directly control any sort of magic was the Wild Royalty!”

Feliciano now answered from up high (as despite Lovino's protests, he had climbed the fox and was now perched on his head) idly commenting. “We can control our own innate power though there is very little. I think in this case, Lily has instead used their bond to draw on Vash's own power as with the presence of the healing spell, I would suggest that her partner was dying and in desperation she did this.”

“Whoa...” Gilbert breathed and the others nodded. “That's incredible.”

Behind him he heard Francis whisper to Antonio “Certainly, I've never heard Feli use so many big words in a sentence before...”

As Gilbert proceeded to attempt to beat Francis up, Antonio asked “So now what?”

“Well, I have an idea about how we could try and wake them. But first you mages should sleep for now though, you've been up all night and have been in a fight. For this to work we'll need your power and a half dead mage doesn't do much.” Arthur answered with a smirk. “We'll stand watch for now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case any of you were wondering: Námo and Rochben are Elvish words for Judge and Knight :P
> 
> * * *
> 
>  **Vash: Aquarius** – Aquariuses are strict, original, humanistic, have strong opinions and stronger beliefs. They focus on change, invention and the unexpected, do better in a crowd, like helping others and giving advice but reluctant to receive it, very independent. As an air sign, Aquariuses also tend to be intellectual, logical, flirty, impatient, spiteful, flighty, confronting and debating.
> 
>  **Lily: Ram** –Rams are creative, intelligent, dependable, calm, quiet, reserved, indecisive, honest, shy, dependant and are very practical. Fun loving and carefree, they enjoy going with the flow but like to still have firmly set roots at the same time. They tend to enjoy being at sidelines rather than the centre of attention, enjoy being helpful, want the approval of others and power/status mean little, will only assume leadership when asked. Have a small circle of friends, though are extremely close-knit, these people along with family have highest priority for rams.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Please understand that not all of traditional qualities will be used, these are just to give an idea of what they are supposed to be, like Arthur will make contact with the same person more than every 7 years.
> 
>  **Water Elemental (Feliciano)** \- Water elementals traditionally include/associated with undines, nymphs and rusalkas. No solid form as is entirely composed of water, have green or blue eyes, gills and seem to be perpetually wet. Can control water in all it's forms and also transform into any of those forms (ice, steam, etc), enchanting singing voices. Some sing to draw people in to drown them, others are much more friendly helping those in need. Must always be near a source of water or else will die, some stories say can't be out of water for long. Can divine futures (fortune telling!) and if greatly angered can curse someone, typically done only to oath breakers.
> 
>  **Selkie (Arthur)** -Transform into a human like form by shedding their seal skins, transform back by putting it back on. Described as handsome and seductive, seek those unhappy with romantic life. Are able to create storms but usually only do so to avenge kin slain by hunters/fishers. Soft-hearted and shy, slow to anger and hold grudges long but also remember good deeds done to them. Can only make contact with a human once then cannot see again for seven years, unless the human possess their skin. Overtly curious, this is frequently the cause for their entrapment and undoing by humans.
> 
>  **Kitsune/Nine Tailed Fox (Lovino)** – Have the appearance of foxes with nine tails, as nine tails either have silver, white or golden fur. Has voice of young child (high!) and some stories give the fox a taste for human flesh/souls. Can be seen as omen of good fortune, peace and luck but also that of revolution – depends whether or not is myobu (celstial fox) or nogitsune (wild fox). Older and more powerful kitsune have more tails, typically will grow a new one after 1000 years. Infinite vision, can posses the unwary, very intelligent, shapeshifters (though its shadow will remain in shape of fox/ true reflection will be seen in mirror), can generate fire from their tails and breathe fire (foxfire), can appear in dreams and create perfect illusions. Some stories say can even bend time/space. Tricksters.
> 
>  **Vila (Lily)** – young and beautiful wind/storm spirit. Frequently represented as mountain-nymphs, are clad in white with long flying hair and fair voices. It is said that they can call forth whirlwinds, hailstorms and rain, can tell the future (typically impending death) and appeared either in the form of swan/horse/wolf or in human form as beautiful, long haired, winged women. Typically will only injure those who intrude on their kolos or roundels, they will shoot arrow at any who anger them and will carry off any children rejected by their parents. Love to dance and voices are frequently said to enchant the unwary.


	5. Chapter 5

As Francis closed his eyes, immediately falling asleep, he began to have a strange dream.

_He was running in a forest, a shadowy figure in front of him. All around them there seemed to be ghosts. Not any actual ghosts or else he would have been able to see some plasma or form in the air but the area seemed haunted instead by memories. There were echoes everywhere of pain, blood and much death. The earth still remembered whatever had passed here, the trees old and gnarled showing burns and the very soil seemed to mourn the passing of fire and the rain of blood upon it._

_What had happened here?_

_The shadowed figure in front turned and began to speak to him, Francis incapable of seeing any of their features but their mouth or hearing what it was they were saying. Whatever it was, it was important as they gestured to him frantically before holding up a key._

_In his dream state, he found that key to be more important than anything else that he had seen. It was maybe the length of his thumb, gold and covered in runes._

_A great explosion rocked the area, blasting the shadow to the side, the key falling from his grasp to bounce onto the ground. In the wake of the fiery explosion, a dark not-shadow, filled with malice seemed to reach for it but he moved quickly and grabbed it instead before the ground opened up below him and he was falling, falling, falling and a wave of fire came up to engulf him, the key melting in his hand. Instantly a bright light appeared above the chasm and a hand reached down an impossible distance to grab him and pull him up._

_He opened his mouth to speak to whoever was saving him but was cut off when hundreds of dark limbs came shooting up from below, wrapping themselves around him, binding him, choking him. The last thing he saw before the world dissolved into a fit of eerie laughter was two sets of eyes, one green as ivy and the other fathomless blue._

* * *

When Antonio woke later, he was delighted to see his Rochben curled up beside him, keeping him warm. Seeing as the testy fox hadn't realized he was awake yet, he took his opportunity to snuggle deeper into his fur. This was fantastic! It was a little scary being away from Sarya (who were probably freaked out over their disappearance) but at the same time, the freedom! He wasn't cooped up in his house or under the watchful eyes of some guards. He could do _whatever_ he wanted, no questions asked. Then, there was Lovino who just made that achievement seem like nothing in comparison. After so many years of waiting, he had found his partner! A nine-tailed fox too! He couldn't think of another Guardian set since their inception that had bonded with a kitsune. He felt like the luckiest man alive right now. He wondered what his favourite food was, what kind of music he listened to, favourite books, favourite places and times to sleep. He wanted to know everything really about his partner; after all, if everything went alright, they would be together for centuries!

He was jolted out of his fantasies when sharp teeth lightly nipped at his ear and he heard a growled “What are you laughing at bastard?”

Hmm. He hadn't realized he was laughing – though Francis and Gilbert told him he tended to do so when thinking too hard and that hearing Fusosososo~ made them feel like he was up to something... He would have to work on that. In the meantime he tilted his head up and blinked sleepily while flashing a bright smile at _his_ Rochben. “Nothing Lovi~ I'm just so happy you found me!”

The nine-tails stared back him and for a moment, delighted surprise could be seen crossing his features before irritation replaced it. “Chh. Whatever bastard.”

By the time Ludwig, Gilbert and Francis were awake, it was late afternoon and Arthur was chomping at the bit to get started. The three felt considerably better, though Francis looked a little pale, and were ready to try whatever it was the Selkie, Elemental and Fox had cooked up to free their imprisoned comrades.

            ...Which turned out to be rather insane.

The four mages stared at the Wilds with astonishment before Francis croaked out, "You want us to what?"

“You heard us.” Lovino said with a smirk.

“No.” Gilbert said, hands up and shaking. “Please, _please_ repeat that, I'm not sure I heard you right.”

“We will pair up into three teams, Antonio and Lovino, Ludwig and Feliciano then Francis and Gilbert. The core of the spell lies with wind and therefore with the movement of air so in order to dispel this we need to remove the air and create a vacuum.” Arthur answered.

Ludwig stuttered out, panicked. “B-But that would kill them! There is so much wrong with this – if they don't die from oxygen deprivation then they will die from the temperature drop causing their body to bloat, circulation to drop and blood and other fluids to boil/form gas bubbles.” He stopped to take a deep breath before he pressed on, speaking all the faster as his nerves began to show. “ _Blood_ can evaporate in vacuums; there is decompression sickness, altitude sickness and gas embolisms. Even if they survive, such rapid decompression creates even more issues! The lungs alveoli can rupture, so can the eardrums and sinuses, soft tissues bruise, hypoxia and barotrauma. THAT is what you are asking us to do?!”

Feliciano look at him calmly, not even batting an eye at his Námo's rant and responded “And in those same books you read it also says that rapid and complete recovery is possible for exposures shorter than 90 seconds. This is possible Ludwig, and quite possibly our only chance at getting them out. Anyway we have a plan, the second the first two groups make the vacuum: the third group will create a shield around them as soon as the shield is weakened.”

“Are we seriously considering this?” Francis asked. “Antonio. What's your opinion?”

Antonio looked up, seemed to think before breaking out into a big smile. “I think we can do it. We have had years of no luck and now we are going to collect the interest, the tides are turning for us! C'mon, what's the worst that could happen?”

“Um...we kill them in a horrible, horrible way?” Gilbert said drily.

Antonio shook his head. “As they are right now, they already are dead, are they not? Frozen in time, never moving forward, stuck there...If the spell does kill them, would it not be a mercy at least?”

Well, that was a valid point, though quite the moral quandary.

“I still don't know if I can go along with this.” Francis said quietly. “What you says makes sense Antonio, but those are two lives. I don't just want to be rushing into this.”

“That's fair.” Arthur said, cutting in before the other four got themselves even more worked up. “Though keep in mind, Vash and Lily have their own power, in the second that the vacuum breaks the spell, not only will one team erect a barrier to protect them but it is likely they will create their own.”

They spent about an hour debating before they all agreed that they would try the idea as they were unable to come up with anything better.

And so, just before the sun set, Antonio and Lovino and Ludwig and Feliciano stood opposing each other, creating a star shape while Francis and Gilbert were inside the star, shifting their weight nervously. There was so much that could go wrong...but any moment of indecision when casting a spell would have disastrous consequences on the caster so all six of them involved strengthened their resolve and then they began.

All in all, it was a rather simple task to cut off the air and in a second, the spell surrounding the Aquarius and Ram pair disappeared. While Ludwig and Antonio cut off the spells for the vacuum, Gilbert and Francis gently lowered the two to the ground before they too released their spell.

Feliciano asked “A-are they alive?” as Francis and Gilbert cautiously approached the prone two. While Gilbert bent over to check Vash's, Francis went to go check Lily's but before he could he heard a grunt of pain from his long-time friend before he found a very long sharp knife pressed against the soft skin of his throat.

“Don't you dare put your filthy hands on her!” Hissed a voice from behind, his intent clear what would happen if that simple order were disobeyed.

“Calm down Vash, he might be a right git but he's just checking her pulse. We thought you might be dead after all of that.” Piped up Arthur's voice from who knows where.

“Arthur?” The pressure on his throat was lifted somewhat though not completely removed. “What's going on?”

“I could ask you the same, friend. What is it you last remember?”

Vash said slowly. “We were fighting...I-I was stabbed, through the abdomen... then there was an explosion. Gods, LILY!” At that, the Aquarius lost interest with Francis, tossing him to the side in an effort to get closer to the Ram.

“I think she's alright but tired. She acted as a median for your magic for both a healing, a protective and a time stop spell for well over fifty years. Let her rest, there much we need to talk about.”

“F-Fifty years?” the other repeated, shocked.

"Yep, more like a hundred actually. You just knocked out the one replacing Neculai and threatened to kill the one replacing Katyusha."

"I would say that we do indeed need to talk then."

* * *

Gilbert and the others woke the next morning to breakfast of bread and cheese, courtesy of an apologetic and sheepish, Aquarius Guardian.

Vash cleared his throat before offering a semi-awkward smile. “So...I believe we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. I'm Vash, the Aquarius Guard and my Rochben Lily.” The Vila gave a small smile and waved before moving her hands in strange patterns, “She doesn't talk a lot, just in case she accidentally charms whoever it is by accident. If you know any sign language though she's fluent...”

“Good to know.” Francis said with a tired smile, showing all was forgiven (though he had a bandage on his neck) “I'm Francis. The lout to my left is Gilbert and to my right is Antonio. I believe you know the others.”

Vash nodded and silence resumed in their impromptu campsite. As they began to eat, Gilbert slowly asked. “So what now? Do we go back to Sarya?”

Lovino shouted “No!” before he even had a chance to finish his sentence. “No, why would we do that?” He said quieter, looking down at his plate.

Even Arthur looked somewhat puzzled by the Dragon's reluctance to return to the magical city and after they all exchanged puzzled/indifferent looks, it was Lily who ventured out “Why not?”

Lovino flinched before he ground out, “I don't like it. They've been mistreating you.” With a glare he silenced the protest about to come from his Námo. “They have been abusing you. Do you not think neglect is a form of abuse? I don't think we should go back there until we all can all go back with heads high and prove them wrong, show them what assholes they were to ignore you.”

There was a moment of quiet (none of them were really morning people) before Lovino found himself in a tight embrace. Quietly, so none of the other heard, Antonio whispered out a quiet “Thank you...”

While Antonio was snuggling his surprisingly non-squirming fox, Feliciano said. “Ve~ I agree. Let us see them live without us for a while, then maybe they will see the mistreatment they have caused.”

Lily and the others nodded, while the five who had been living in Sarya felt a sort of vindication by refusing to go back.

Arthur piped up. “I'm afraid here is where our paths part, but my duty as a citizen and as a Royal Knight still lies with the Court and the Princes. I need to track them down.” He said regretfully. “Lovino knows how to contact me if you find anything, I'm going to see if I can't find some of the other Knights.”

Lovino and the others looked like they wanted to protest but none could come up with an argument for him to stay so Ludwig just nodded and stood saying. “The best of luck to you then, until we meet again.” The two shook hands and everyone said their goodbyes before Arthur put on his seal skin and dove into the nearby river, quickly disappearing from sight.

“Well, if we have nothing else to do, I propose that we see if we can't find the others.” Vash suggested, “Something, I feel, is on the move. Neither Lily nor I think that its coincidence that this was when we were found or that this was the time that Arthur and Lovino ended up in. Perhaps we will have better luck than past searches, after all, fate moves in mysterious ways and I think now it moves with us.”

* * *

received nothing but blank stares back. He was infuriated to discover that none of them knew how to perform a tracking spell: because Ludwig and Feli couldn't consciously remember anything and typically just used muscle memory for their spell work and Ludwig’s coded workbook (when they could decipher what he’d written that is) as reference while Gil, Toni and Francis were already about three years into being ignored by the time their bodies and magic had matured enough to learn such spells. 

Lily had to talk him out of going and beating the crap out of the High Council in Sarya, then the rest of the day was spent with Vash and Lily teaching them how to cast spells as a pair before they began to work on tracking spells specifically. Lovino and Antonio also worked during their breaks on helping Lovino to master walking around in human form and following when he did, the boy refused to change back, giving the excuse he loved the freedom thumbs gave him.

By the following day, they had each mastered it (despite Francis and Gilbert having no one to practice with) and had begun to track down the nearest signature. Previously unknown to them, the Guardians marks emitted a signal of sorts that both the Rochben and the Námo could track with the right spell. They followed Antonio and Lovino who were the present casters and were the only ones able to see the thin blue string leading them to their goal.

They travelled south for days to a great mountain range where the blue ribbon led them up, high above the clouds before it disappeared. Puzzled, seeing as no one and nothing was there, Ludwig released the spell and they set up camp. It was when everyone but Gilbert, Vash and Ludwig had gone to bed that their quiet journey was interrupted.

There was the crunching of gravel before a dry voice commented, “I don't believe it. Someone is actually up here.” As the trio reached for weapons, a pale man in a purple coat with short brown hair, glasses and a cowlick walked into the firelight. He blinked for a moment or two before he said fairly disbelievingly, “Y-you. Vash? Is, is that you?”

Vash squinted at him before he said with astonishment. “Roderich? The last person I'd think to find out here in the middle of nowhere was you. You finally abandoned the city?”

"I hate to interrupt this happy reunion, but who's Specs?"

“…I hate to interrupt this happy reunion, but who's Specs?”

Instead of bothering to answer the question, the man turned to Vash and asked. “Who is the lout?”

Vash sighed as both looked at him expectantly. “Gilbert, did the Saryens never bother to mention to you who the present Guardians are?”

“Um...no. We only were ever told the names of the most famous pairs, I think they just assumed you were all dead and that there would be no point.”

“...I'm going to murder those idiots! How can they ever expect you to fulfil your role as Guardian when they half-assed your education!” Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he continued. “Roderich this is Gilbert, Gilbert, Roderich. I know that you know Ludwig already but neither he nor Feli can remember anything before the Attack so Ludwig, this is Roderich. He's the present Cancer Guardian and his partner is the Tiger...where is Elizabeta? You two were inseparable.” He asked as the thought occurred to him.

“Um...We're not anymore. She's flying around somewhere, hopefully far away right now. She completely blames the Saryens for what happened, I'm the only human presence she even remotely tolerates but I think that's only because of the bond we have...”

“Don't tell me she's...” Vash began with a groan.

Roderich interrupted. “I wish I could but she hasn't returned to her human shape since then, attacking any human that gets too close. It's why I originally came up here when I saw your fire, it was to warn you. If she sees you guys, she will probably try to kill you, you need to leave now!”

Before the conversation could continue, there was a shrieking sound before a meteor hit the ground, creating a crater.

Hearing Roderich mumble, “Too late.”  Gilbert had a pretty good idea of what, or rather, _who_ had caused it.

From the pit and cloud of dust, emerged a dark figure. Her skin was ashen and her figure was covered in red and black toga, from her black sprouted great bat wings and her head was crowned with a wriggling mass of snakes. As she got closer to them, they could see the enormous sharp claws on her hands/feet, her hands holding a whip and tears of blood pouring down her face.

They were among the least pleasant monsters to get on the wrong side of... they had a vengeful streak a few miles wide.

She darted at them with an inhuman screech, whip flicking in the air with a crack, opening a welt on Ludwig's chest and sending him backwards into the tent while her claws raked across Gilbert's back before he had a chance to react. Vash barely managed to get a shield up in time for her attentions to turn on him and was still sent flying backwards with the force of the blow.

Feliciano and Lovino emerged from the crushed tent with annoyed shouts but grew silent when they saw the Erinyes looming over the three who were struggling back to their feet, blood dripping from one hand and whip held loosely in the other hand.

Then to the surprise of all present, Lovino merely groaned head in his hands and said something along the lines of “Why her?” before the Fury darted at the two of them, her eyes losing their malice and engulfing them in a tight hug. “LOVI! FELI!”

Antonio emerging from the other tent sleepily before jolting awake at the chaos before him. “Did I miss something?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Roderich: Cancer.** Cancers are sensitive, protective, vengeful, devoted, loyal, firm, possessive, have fluctuating moods and once trust is ensured, are affectionate. They seek security (bit of homebodies because of it), make decisions on emotions and are hard workers. They are very protective of those they view in being under their care (kids, employees, etc) and do not spend frivolously, saving for the future. As a water sign, Cancers are nurturing, supportive, intuitive, dreamers, emotional, sacrificing, secretive and obsessive
> 
>  **Elizabeta: Tiger.** Tigers are brave, competitive, adventurous, assertive, expressive, trustworthy, vibrant, optimistic, goal-driven, courageous, sincere, aggressive, polite (when to benefit), emotional, and unpredictable. Easy to provoke, Tigers lack of foresight and have a frequency to jump to conclusions which gets them into trouble. They love to be challenged and a bit eccentric, Tigers will focus with a single mind at the task – though it may not be realistic/possible – they will give it their all which can cause them to overwork. Usually fairly playful/mischievous, they will get serious and very protective over loved ones and their honour.
> 
> * * *
> 
>  **Fury/Erinyes (Elizabeta)-** Were considered hideous in appearance – clawed women dressed in black and red with hair bristling of serpents and bird/bat wings. The female personifications of vengeance, punishers of oath breakers and the dead's anger, their eyes were often depicted crying tears of blood. Would carry whip and torches when in pursuit of someone, they would harass and injure prey until in desperation they would commit suicide. They are avenging spirits, often used as symbols of a destructive, guilty conscience, especially in matters involving wrongs within a family and exacted vengeance when no human agent was available to do so. Can drive people insane.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Vash and Arthur were good friends. This is my head-cannon from looking at English-Swiss relations since the 16th century.
> 
> Necolai is a common name for Romania and Katyusha for Ukraine, they won't be appearing again.
> 
> After this chapter new Guardian pairs won't really be showing up, for plot reasons mainly but I figured why not bring one more in before that :P
> 
> * * *
> 
> In case any of you are having difficulty keeping track. (Though I don't know how helpful it is)
> 
> Gilbert (mage) / ? ?/?  
> Francis (mage) / ? ?/?  
> Antonio (mage) / Lovino (Nine-tail fox) Leo/Dragon  
> missing Guardian / missing Wild Prince ? Scorpio/?  
> Ludwig (mage) / Feliciano (water elemental) Taurus/Rabbit  
> Vash (mage) / Lily (Vila) Aquarius/Ram  
> Roderich (mage)/Elizabeta (Fury) Cancer/Tiger


	6. Chapter 6

Feliciano stared blankly before some memory seemed to come back to him and he shouted joyfully while Lovino attempted to struggle out of the Fury's tight hug with a cry of, "Lemme go!".

Antonio in the meantime was torn between rescuing Lovi and freaking out over Gilbert and Ludwig's wounds before he settled on beginning to perform a healing spell while watching his Rochben anxiously.

"Was that really necessary Elizabeta?" Roderich asked, his arms spread to the side as if to show he had no weapon and taking a cautious step forward.

Startled out of her revere, the Tiger gently dropped the elemental and kitsune before whipping around to stand protectively between them and the Cancer, snarling.

Just then Vash groaned in pain from the side where his glowing hands on his chest signified his healing ribs and Lily, sensing something was wrong, came running out of their tent. Upon seeing the Fury, she sent a scythe of air flying at the other woman, her eyes blazing with anger.

Sensing the attack, Elizabeta jumped into the air hissing.

Lily's appearance began to change, shedding her human guise. She grew considerably, ageing from about twelve to a woman of twenty or so, her hair paling and lengthening and wings sprouted from her back.

Then she took to the air and opened her mouth, beginning to sing. Despite the spell not being directed at them and being quieted by the distance, all those on the mountain felt the attack reverberate in their bones while also feeling drawn to the girl. In fact, Ludwig who had managed to put in some ear plugs had had to save hapless Roderich who had nearly walked off the cliff face - perhaps more affected then the rest of them were as the attack was directed at his Rochben.

Elizabeta seemed also to feel it as she coughed up some blood and her wings seemed to fold of their own accord, causing her to begin to plummet to the ground. However, in a matter of seconds, she shook the power of the song of and abruptly shot upwards, claws raking the Vila's side.

Vash's face darkened, he would not continue to allow this and began providing magical backup, sending electric bolts after the Fury. Roderich joined in also, trying to hamper his partner's movements while trying to protect her causing both groups to turn against him.

Feliciano, Lovino, Ludwig, Gilbert and Antonio could only watch helplessly as the four tore at each other with magic and weapons. It was the first time that Gilbert and Antonio had seen such a fight and it was unnerving that both the Vila and Fury were going for the kill and Vash and Roderich were using very dangerous spells despite them being comrades. Blades of wind hit their campsite, knocking tents and supplies to the side while, even with the earplugs, the Vila's song had to be consciously resisted. Bolts of electricity levelled nearby trees while fire consumed all it touched.

Frankly, it was terrifying.

Just as it seemed that the matter would only be settled by violence, Roderich (now with earplugs in) said regretfully, "I never wanted to have to do this to you Elizabeta, but you leave me no choice my dear." He then made a few signs and dark symbols began to worm their way around the Fury's skin.

Elizabeta in turn began to ignore her opponents as she tried to claw the markings off but it was no use, the sealing spell was merciless as it bound her down to her human form.

She hit the ground and looked up through her curtain of hair, thrashing against her invisible bonds and began to hiss at Roderich in an unintelligible language.

Antonio felt his heart constrict painfully at that. That was not how Rochben and Nàmo are supposed to be. There was supposed to be trust and camaraderie at the very least, not this warped bond. No Nàmo should have to use a constricting spell on their partner just as no Rochben should attack their partner, verbally or physically.

This was wrong.

Feli started forward. "Eliza..." but the Cancer put his arm out to stop him.

"Enough!" Roderich shouted, and the word held power behind it causing everyone to freeze, not just Elizabeta, though she continued to hiss at him. However, Antonio noted, her tone was different. Pleading. Begging even, her eye flicking to Feliciano before darting back to her partners' face.

"Language my dear Eli. Else the good folks here won't understand what you are saying," Roderich said, glint in his eye and waving his hand. Antonio didn't like how suddenly his entire demeanour changed, feeling the hair on the back of his neck.

Just like that the Tiger's hisses became words.

"I'M NOT YOUR DEAR ANYTHING! YOU ARE NOT MY RODERICH AND DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!" the Fury shouted, trying to move, now doubly bound. Once against the earlier binding spell and again with the freeze spell that Roderich had used on them, causing nearly all of their muscles to freeze in place.

Well, the Leo was now officially confused. What on earth was going on? What did the Fury mean and why had Roderich's spell targeted them as well?

Roderich just smiled and Antonio had to repress a shiver. Such an empty and cold expression.

"Don't worry my darling, I will not touch your precious "children"; though I have no idea how you're so attached to them, it's not like they're your offspring. I am actually here for another..." With that, he turned and began to walk to the only tent still standing.

That's when Antonio realized it.  _Where was Francis?_

Ludwig, ever level headed, managed to shout to the Fury. "What's going on?"

"He's been possessed by a malevolent spirit!" The Fury shouted tears in her eyes, "Every time I feel my Nàmo's aura, I've tracked him down, to try and prevent his mischief. I thought you guys were with him when I felt a second wave of miasma on the mountain."

"WHAT!" Vash managed to utter, though his muscles conspired against him, trying to keep his mouth shut. "It is not be possible to possess any of us!"

"We were weak when it happened. When the Saryen witch was killed she vowed vengeance, to never let her spirit rest until she finished what she set out to do..."

* * *

_A large explosion rocked the area and the trees were blown back by the force. She heard young Lily screech in the distance... they must have been closer to the blast the Fury reasoned as she felt their aura distance then disappear. As the wind cleared she could see Ludwig to the side, collapsed on top of his Rochben who he had shielded from the blast._

_They had failed the Court of the Wild._

_Elizabeta felt her mind break a little as she looked around and saw naught but gallons of blood staining the clearing. There were only the Guardians left. The remainder - the shadow demons, the fae, the monsters, creatures, ghouls and the rest - nothing remained but the black, blue and green blood that covered the area._

_This could not be happening._

_She wasn't the only one left standing it seemed, luckily. She leaned over to help her hapless partner to his feet while she looked around the area. Looking back, moving to go help Ludwig and Feli, she was surprised to see them gone, a trail of water leading to a nearby river - the elemental must have instinctively taken to two somewhere safe then. The Monkey, a Draug, lay dismembered around the prone body of his partner, the Virgo. Near them were the Gemini and the Ox, the Gemini desperately trying to heal the wolf demon's wounds despite being barely conscious. The Rat had reverted to his human form after, as a Basilisk, he'd had his eyes put out and accidentally injected his partner, the Sagittarius, with his venom. While those two were dying because of the poor Rat's mistake, the Rooster, a Naga and his partner the Capricorn were doing their best to stop the spread of the venom and trying to help the Gemini. Oddly, the Pisces and Boar pair were nowhere to be seen._

_However as she thought that, a Griffin came swooping down with his Námo on his back._

_"Kiku! Heracles! Thank goodness," Elizabeta said, starting forward. Compared to the rest of them, they were unhurt so they could speed up the healing so they could go after the bastards who did this..._

_Then she saw their foreheads and felt her heart stop. Overtop of the pairs bonds mark was a large red hourglass._

_Exactly like the ones that were on the shadow puppets backs, a deep blood red that glowed ever so slightly. Using her sharp eyes, she examined it further and to her it looked as though it was consuming the bonding symbol underneath which looked as though it was beginning to fade. That of course was impossible but if the hourglass was somehow corrupting it that much...she shuddered to think._

_Heracles smirked and said, "I'm sorry but Kiku and Heracles are unavailable at the moment, perhaps I may serve instead?"_

* * *

"Only Mathias and I got out, though I lost Roderich. The rest were all possessed by the Saryen's witch demon allies: Wrath, Pride, Envy, Greed, Sloth, Gluttony, Pestilence, Lust, Death, Famine and War."

Gilbert seemed to do some quick calculations. "But if what you say is true, there was still one who didn't possess anyone."

Roderich's deep voice sounded behind them as he emerged from the tent carrying a limp and sick Francis. "That's because of those left, none had been contaminated by the dark and were thus an unsuitable vessel. However, that changed when you fools repelled the Puppets before, his barrier cracked ever so slightly and he used his life force to patch it, exposing it the black blood. That is why I'm here, since then it's been slowly consuming him; he will make an excellent vessel for Lust."

As if to prove his point, Francis shifted restlessly before coughing up black.

Antonio and the others struggled against their invisible bonds again, their friend needed them! However, it was to no avail as the Cancer steadily disappeared into the forest.

As the other made his escape, those bound began to feel the freezing spell holding them dissipate. Instead of just waiting patiently, Gilbert then the others began using their minimal control to begin to follow, inching forward. As they did so, Vash groaned out, "Okay. New plan. Rescue Francis, find the other damn Guardian who didn't get possessed then look up exorcist spells, sound good?"

* * *

He was starting to get fed up with his self-imposed quest; he had yet to find any sort of clue, he was tired and hungry and lastly he had this highly obnoxious feeling that refused to go _away_ that was telling him that something bad was happening.

That he was needed elsewhere.

God damn it.

With a huff, he skidded to a halt, loose gravel shooting up from the force before he pivoted and began to run back from whence he came. This had better be important.

* * *

They darted through the trees as quick as they could without losing the tracks in the dirt, luckily the sun was coming up so this was made progressively easier.

As they ran, Gilbert swore he saw flashes of white out of the corner of his eyes again but each time he looked, it vanished again. Could it have been the legendary stag again? If so, this was very out of the ordinary. A good omen maybe? Considering it didn't seem to be benevolent or even have any sort of presence (even Ghosts have them), he decided to push it to the back of his mind (for now anyway), ignoring it in favour of reaching and rescuing his friend.

Then an idea occurred to him as they ran  they seemed to have to be doing a lot of this running lately rather than using their magic...that was it!

The next time they went around the bend and they saw Roderich farther ahead with Francis in his arms, Gilbert launched a spell that caused a wall of fire to emerge in the centre of his path. Not burning any of the nearby forest - he had better control then that - but the roaring flames instead reached for the Cancer Guardian, threatening to consume the instant he got too close.

With a snarl, the Cancer-turned-Envy turned and darted to the side and escaped but it had given them time to further close the gap. Now as they followed the tracks, the glimpses of their quarry became more and more frequent and with each sighting, they launched as many spells possible to slow him down further.

However, before they could catch up, a number of Shadow Puppets appeared to delay them, blocking the path. Then, to further their surprise, a slightly effeminate boy was being carried on one of deadly creature's shoulders, his hand up shielding his eyes from the rising sun, a nasty grin on his face and a blood red hourglass on his cheek.

"Ai-yah! What do we have here? A few piggies lost in the wilderness?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Kiku: Boar.** Boars are diligent, compassionate, generous, honest, reliable, sincere, tolerant, caring, industrious, persistent, brave, shy, supportive, trusting of others, trustworthy and stubborn. They are also detail-oriented and creative and can always be counted on when in need. Can have a one-track mind when it comes to things important to them but typically seek peace and will do what they must to maintain it. They enjoy life and helping others, though it will take a lot for them to ask for help on their own and don't harbour grudges, hating to argue.
> 
>  **Heracles: Pisces.** Pisces tend to be romantic, compassionate, imaginative, intuitive, mysterious, illusive, deceptive, loyal, calm, sensitive, devoted, very sentimental and dreamers/escapists. The sign also represents reincarnation as both fish devour continuously the other. Often seen as weak or spineless, there is much hidden depth to them they hide. As a water sign, Pisces are also nurturing, supportive, mystical, intuitive, possessive, insecure, sacrificing, needy,secretive, cuddly and obsessive.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Griffin (Kiku) – Is a creature with the head/wings of an eagle, the body of a lion and sometime, the tail of a serpent (depends which culture the myth being read is from). The eagle head is usually drawn with these tufts as a sort of upstanding ears and in some traditions only the female had wings. Had feathers on its head and fur covered the rest of its body and the feather colour can vary though is usually shown as white or gold. Thought to be social animals, living in groups of 5-30 members in a hierarchy that reflects that of lions and their territory can extend for kilometres. Monogamous - they mate for life and even with the death of their partner, they will not seek out another. Griffin claws will change colour in the presence of poison and it is not possible to lie around them.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Bah. I just noticed that my intro of my villains started with the Cancer (though it's the crab not the disease). D: That wasn't intentional but seems kind of cliche.
> 
> So I tried dropping some hints as to what was going to happen in earlier chapters - anyone see it coming?
> 
> Yep, so I figured, since my heroes were organized by Zodiac, why not make my villains organized by the Seven Deadly Sins (for the mages) and the Four Horsemen (for the creatures)?
> 
> * * *
> 
> In case anyone's having difficulty keeping track.  
> Gilbert (mage) / ? ?  
> Francis (mage) / ? ?  
> Antonio (mage) / Lovino (Nine-tail fox) Leo/Dragon  
> missing Guardian / missing Wild Prince ? Scorpio/?  
> Ludwig (mage) / Feliciano (water elemental) Taurus/Rabbit  
> Vash (mage) / Lily (Vila) Aquarius/Ram  
> ? (mage) / ? (Draug) Virgo/Monkey  
> ? (mage) / ? (Wolf demon {think Fenrir}) Gemini/Ox  
> ? (mage) / ? (Basilisk) Sagittarius/Rat  
> ? (mage) / ? (Naga) Capricorn/Rooster  
> Heracles (mage) / Kiku (Griffin) Pisces/Boar  
> Roderich (mage) / Elizabeta (Fury) Cancer/Tiger
> 
> * * *
> 
> Roderich – Envy  
> Kiku - ?  
> Heracles - ?
> 
> PLEASE REVIEWWWWW!


	7. Chapter 7

"They are coming back, the Guardians are re-emerging. It is nearly time, I can feel it." A light alto voice cut through the darkness, its tone sinister despite how softly the words were spoken.

"But of course mistress, contact has been made by Envy who has found a host for Lust and Gluttony is on standby."

"Very good Pride. Now, I think you should go join the welcoming party for our soon-to-be-guests. After all, I would hate for something to happen to any of them because Gluttony gets carried away. Oh! And be a dear and ask the Horsemen to come here? I have a task for them."

"As you command."

There were sounds of footsteps before the creaking of hinges could be heard and a sliver of light darted into the room, illuminating the lithe figure reclining on a mountain of pillows in the darkness.

"Very good...oh, and Pride?" The woman looked fairly predatory as she drew her attention back to the servant leaving.

"Yes mi'lady?"

"Should anything to happen to any of them, you will share that same fate. After all one of them could hold the missing piece, the one to return  _him_ to me."

* * *

As they rounded the corner, Roderich in sight, about fifteen Shadow Puppets fell from the sky, blocking the path. Curiously, on one of the deadly creature's shoulders perched a lean man with his jet black hair pulled back into a pony tail, his hands shielding his eyes from the rising sun.

"Ai-yah! What do we have here? A few piggies lost in the wilderness? And so far away from their homes! Such a shame, a shame... if only there was something..." The man's voice trailed off as from behind the sound of a great weight hit the compact dirt.

" _We_  could do!" Another mocking voice finished.

As Antonio whirled around, he placed a calming hand on Lovino's shoulder who looked about ready to drop his human form and lunge for the nearest opponents’ throat. That would not do in a situation like this, they needed to take their time.

Especially as he did a double take when he  _recognized_  the figure now before him.

Erik, considered one of best mages (if not the best) ever to come out of Sarya was also apparently against them, judging by the red hour glass covering the bonding mark on the boy's Adam’s apple. He had pale blonde hair with a fly away curl held down by a cross shaped barrette and his eyes...they looked dead. He hadn't known that the other was a Guardian (he was starting to doubt whether any of the books in the Library that were accessible were of any use besides for basic magic. Anything that seemed to be actually useful in their situation was a mystery to him.)

He was said to have put down the entire Troll Rebellion two centuries ago by himself. As in, he took on a few thousand trolls who were trying to go against the treaty of the Wilds and won on his own - though now Antonio had a suspicion that his Rochben had assisted him at the very least.

The thought of such a powerful magic user against them who was twice as powerful because of the bond between Rochben and Námo, was quite frankly, terrifying.

Despite it having brought him and Lovi together, he was starting to regret having gone out that night. After all, since then he had constantly either been in danger or on the run. Though, in all honesty, he could not picture himself going back to the life he had before; living, but not really, stuck in a windowless gilded cage. He  _knew_  the night had changed his life for the better but considering he now had one very pointy rapier pointed at his throat and one of the most dangerous magic users ever holding the other end, it was a fairly difficult thing to remember.

For a moment no one moved, both the ambush party and their group stared each other down.

Vash looked from back and forth between the two before he snorted derisively. "Yao and Erik. Huh. I cannot believe that you would both be so  _weak_ as to be possessed. You're pathetic."

Erik twitched before he replied. "I'm sorry. You seem to have our names wrong, I am Pride and he is Gluttony. I don't believe we have met before, but worry not, I believe I can guess yours, I'm sure you're all called  _corpse._ " With that he lunged forward and Antonio narrowly avoided being impaled on the end of the blade.

It seemed that was the signal as the Shadow Puppets began to attack and Yao pulled out an enormous mace (where had he been hiding it?), charging at Vash who blocked with a spell before going on the offensive, Lily backing him up. As soon as Erik had attacked Antonio, Lovino had shed his human guise in seconds and as a Kitsune, lunged at the mage's throat, fire swirling around him as his fury manifested itself. Once Antonio got over his shock, he instantly began providing back up. Elizabeta, Gilbert, Ludwig and Feliciano found their hands full with the dangerous shadow creatures that had to be completely destroyed in an instant or else could regenerate back.

Soon weapons of magic, flesh and steel were flying as each did their best to incapacitate the other (or in Vash's/Lovino's/Elizabeta's case, did their best to murder their opponents as they weren't very good at holding back)

All the while, their eyes kept darting back to the path where their comrade had disappeared, sick and kidnapped by Envy...

"You've got to be fucking shitting me." Piped up a new voice over the din of the fighting, incredulous. 

* * *

 

He couldn't believe this!

There he was minding his own fucking business, trying to find the site of his old grave so he could rest for a while before he was dragged all this way to find that the magical summons was for a simple fight.

If they couldn't take on so few opponents on their own, that was their own damn fault and he wanted nothing to do with it.

But yet he couldn't abandon them. Not when he saw the Taurus and Rabbit pair along with the Aquarius and Ram pair alive and well. Those two pairs were probably those he got along best with among the twenty four of them, if only because they could fight well and tolerated him more than most. There was also fiery Elizabeta who he enjoyed sparing against and Lovino who he vaguely recognized from the Wild Court. He couldn't leave them to die, and the others, well they were barely fledglings, and he supposed he could protect them as well.

This decision to stay was confirmed though when his eyes found the stormy grey empty ones of the one he used to call his Námo. He had sorely misjudged the other, on the day they had become bonded, as the Virgo and Monkey pair, the mage had had to defeat him in combat, completely incapacitating him. The smarmy bastard had done it in little over twenty-five minutes and he had respected that, his skill, before this it had taken days for anyone to come close to defeating him. After all, being undead did offer the benefit of not needing rest or feeling pain; he could be torn limb from limb and continue on as though it were only a flesh wound. Yet, that plucky ten year old had stopped him in his tracks and won with moderate ease. Those days, he felt together they could take on the world.

Yet he had betrayed him.

That night, when everything went to hell, the one to incapacitate him was not the enemy but his partner. He didn't care about the child's motives, whether the action was done in hate or...something else, it didn't matter. He had attacked him.

And that was something Mathias would never forgive. 

* * *

 

On the cliffside above them was a Draug. He wore an old cloak of fur, a dark red tunic over black breeches and leather boots all of which were aged and heavily stained with blood, mud and dirt. In contrast, his pale white skin and blonde hair seemed to glow, perhaps because they were free from most of the grime. Curiously enough, he appeared to be moderately sentient considering the being could talk and the look of horror on his face. He had thought that the creatures were like the Berserkers of times long gone past, those that had given up their humanity, emotions, and sensations, and lived only for the thrill of battle and the rain of blood.

This one seemed oddly grounded, how peculiar.

However, that didn't matter as the creature jumped down in to the battle ground and quickly turned into a troll. Now a word about trolls, they don't really need fighting technique - they're ridiculously strong and are huge. So while Mathias quickly stomped out or beat with a tree-turned-club all of their enemies so that they were quickly and easily vanquished. Nothing left of them but what looked to be ink stains on the ground.

Except of course, the two that were the most dangerous, Gluttony and Pride just looked amused.

* * *

_The instincts had taken hold again. Need to run._

_Get out._

_Break free._

_Flee. Flee. Flee._

_Turn, jump, bound, leap, sprint, turn, pivot._

_Can't get caught._

* * *

 

Arthur looked down at the small silver key, nestled in his palm.

Just what had the Prince been trying to do?

What was this key for?

Did it hold the missing piece?

He had searched, he had gone back to old haunts, meeting places, safety points. All of them were completely devoid of life. The reef where his family had so enjoyed swimming was empty. The sunken ship that his little brother Peter enjoyed playing in along with his friends was deserted. The paths in the deep caverns under the mountains were chocked with dust. The place where the Wild Court itself was centered around, its barriers were broken and its beauty still lay broken on the ground, undisturbed since that fateful night.

 _He was getting nowhere like this._  He thought as he clenched his fist around the small thing.  _Just what was he looking for out here now anyway? What answers? It was clear that he wasn't asking the right questions anyway._

He then heard oncoming footsteps and stilled before quickly scattering any signs of his presence and diving into a nearby bush. His senses all screamed at him to hide even more thoroughly as a wave of dark miasma hit him. However, his curiosity wouldn't have that, so peering out from the foliage amongst which he had concealed himself, he was astonished to see the Cancer Guardian running along the path.

How was Roderich the source of such a dark aura?

Then he saw the limp body of Francis hung over his shoulder and saw red. Suddenly it didn't really matter if he had turned to evil magic or if it was a giant misunderstanding. Francis was one of the first to be immediately kind to him, others usually thought he was human and were typically suspicious after he revealed he in fact, wasn't. And now the stupid twat was hurt somehow and possibly in danger.

Well, he wouldn't stand for that.

* * *

Pride had an uneasy feeling he was being followed...but that was nonsense, Pride and Gluttony should have been enough to deal with the group back there, especially as most of them hadn't undergone (or couldn't remember) any formal combat training.

Should have been a piece of cake, there was no need to worry as there was no way anyone could be following him.

This train of thought was disrupted by a small rock flying out of nowhere and hitting him in the forehead.

"What?"

Then another slightly larger one hit him in the ear.

"Who's there?"

Then a large rock hit him in his stomach, causing him to double over and drop Francis before another larger one hit his shin. Before he could shot again, a great weight landed on his back, knocking him out.

Arthur got up from where he had landed on Envy (he had launched himself out of a tree) and looked down at Francis who was clearly burning up with a fever. As he watched however, he saw him cough up some inky black substance that made the Selkie cringe.

That was no good, the damn pillock had managed to somehow become contaminated by miasma, and he needed to be treated immediately before it corrupted his magic anymore.

Just then Roderich groaned as he began to come to and Arthur quickly came to a decision. He quickly went and erased all traces of his presence (so his tracks, what was left of his distraction rock-throwing traps, etc.) before he grabbed Francis under the arms and hoisted him over his shoulder.

Stealthy, he ran through the foliage before coming across what he was looking for, a fairly harmless looking pond by the cliffside.

Quickly, he pulled on his seal skin and plugged Francis's nose before he dove into the murky depths.

Swimming as quickly as he could, he dragged his burden to a small passage. Not many knew, the passage of time erasing nearly all traces, but Goblins had once a magnificent city here and the passage was one of the few entrances left, hidden in the water. Arthur remembered but then again, he was very old, though how old he isn't sure as he lost track long ago.

It was through here and upwards that he was pulled his sick friend until they burst through onto the other side, on the upper levels of the city.

Pulling Francis up and onto dry ground, into the remnants of the court house if he remembered right  which he should, after all, he had been pretty wild in his younger years and had had to attend a number of times before he entered the service of the queen.

Slipping of his seal fur, he gently covered Francis with it before wandering off to go see if any of the old store rooms had anything preserved there: whether dried herbs or blankets to help Francis or any mead for himself... he had the strangest feeling he would be needing it.

As he turned, he failed to notice the slight glowing that overtook them both as Francis's hand closed over the makeshift blanket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone was wondering, the bond between partners could be made at any time, they just made it a tradition to do it on one night (a solstice) as that was when the future Námo's power would be strongest and that way the future Rochben's lives aren't being disrupted by summonings more than one night a year.
> 
> Just realized I made Arthur a Selkie when by canon he isn't able to swim. Erm...oops?
> 
> * * *
> 
>  **Draug(Mathais) –** Original Nordic word meant ghost though they are more similar to zombies in that they are undead and have a taste for raw flesh and drink blood. Either corpse pale (na-folr) or death black (hel-blar), carry the stench of decay with them and can increase size/weight at will. The have some immunity to usual weapons (swords, axes, etc), posses superhuman strength, can rise from under the ground in a mist, and can shape-change (seal, troll, great flayed bull, a grey horse with a broken back but no ears or tail, and a cat that would sit upon a sleeper's chest and grow steadily heavier until the victim suffocated). The only way to defeat it was to wrestle it bare-handed to the ground, before decapitating, staking and lighting the draug on fire. The barrow-wight from Tolkien's work is frequently compared to draugs.
> 
> * * *
> 
>  **Yao: Sagittarius.** Sagittariuses are scholars, enjoying learning and debate and are very intelligent/philosophical people, someone who you could go to for answers. Due to this, they also love challenges and are ambitious, always on the lookout for a new experience or piece of knowledge and do not like being tied down. Are also optimistic, giving, cheerful, outdoors-y and enjoy laughing and making others laugh/happy as well. As a Fire Sign, Sagittariuses are passionate, charming, popular, curious, energetic, defenders – protecting to death what is important to them, creative, loud and proud (borderline egotistical at times)
> 
>  **Erik (Norway): Virgo.** Virgos are practical, logical and analytical thinkers, enjoying reasoning and dissecting problems until all possible solutions are found and pick the one that best suits the problem. Are sincere but because of their analytical personalities, frequently come across as cold. As workaholics, they strive to do their best but hold others to the same standards. As an Earth Sign, Virgos are well-grounded, slightly-over bearing, responsible, giving, conservative, organized, stubborn and are family-oriented.
> 
>  **Mathias: Monkey –** Monkeys are curious, mischievous, clever, playful, creative, intelligent, determined, ambitious, adaptive, inventive, opportunistic, versatile, charming and somewhat distrusting of others intentions. Sensitive, they will frequently hide hurt behind practical jokes and comments (though they also just love to poke fun) and are always looking for some adventure/challenge as they are easily bored. May have good intentions though inadvertently cause ill will at times as plans won't always work – though when a Monkey needs to commit, they will do so and follow through as best they can. Unpredictable-geniuses.
> 
> * * *
> 
> **In case anyone's having difficulty keeping track.**
> 
>  
> 
> Gilbert (mage) / ? ?  
> Francis (mage) / ? ?  
> Antonio (mage) / Lovino (Nine-tail fox) Leo/Dragon  
> missing Guardian / missing Wild Prince ? Scorpio/?  
> Ludwig (mage) / Feliciano (water elemental) Taurus/Rabbit  
> Vash (mage) / Lily (Vila) Aquarius/Ram  
> Erik (mage) / Mathias (Draug) Virgo/Monkey  
> ? (mage) / ? (Wolf demon) Gemini/Ox  
> Yao (mage) / ? (Basilisk) Sagittarius/Rat  
> ? (mage) / ? (Naga) Capricorn/Rooster  
> Heracles (mage) / Kiku (Griffin) Pisces/Boar  
> Roderich (mage) / Elizabeta (Fury) Cancer/Tiger
> 
> Roderich – Envy, Yao – Gluttony, Erik – Pride, Heracles -?  
> Kiku - ?,


	8. Chapter 8

_Where were the old storerooms_? Arthur had been searching for one that was still above water (and there should be one around here, he used to be very familiar with the city after all) but none could be seen.

He wished he had his skin still with him, so he could search some of the farther areas that he couldn't reach by building hopping. You see, because in this human-esque form, he was unable to swim. Pathetic really, a selkie unable to swim, but the movements and skills required were so different, he couldn't manage it. Especially as he seemed to have the lung capacity of a submerged squirrel (he hated the furry rodents) like this.

He made his way back to the part of the courthouse that was still above the water and perched there for a moment, trying to re-orient himself. Hmm. There should be one around near that old guard tower... that was it! There was a storage room by bridge that led to the mountain entrance. While he could see from here that the bridge was gone, he should at least be able to get to guard hut and the goods stored within...even if he had to doggy paddle. Highly undignified it was but it was the best he could considering he had left his seal skin back to keep the idiot warm.

May as well get it over with...

So, in the most dignified fashion he could muster, Arthur found a bit of wood, lay on it in the water and proceeded to paddle over, all the while hoping he and Francis were the only living creatures there and thinking that Francis had better not regain consciousness and witness this...travesty! 

* * *

 

As he managed to make his way back to his temporary campsite with both dried food, blanket, a keg of old beer and a medicine kit, Arthur looked back to earlier in the day.

Roderich had been acting most unlike himself, but at the same time, that attitude had also reminded him of someone else that he know. It was frustrating though as the feeling kept niggling at him, the memory just dangling out of his reach but close enough that he kept trying to remember more.

Ugh, this was getting him nowhere.

He trudged back over to the unconscious mage, cold, wet and annoyed at his defective memory. Perhaps he did need to retire from the Royal Guards after all, he was getting old if his memory was doing this to him...Throwing his findings on the ground, he sat cross-legged and retrieved his skin and offered the blanket in return, tucking it around the shivering boy’s body. After which, he then began to do his best to bring down the child's high fever before he began treating his visible injuries. It was disturbing, as even when unconscious, a Saryen's magic would automatically begin healing them but Francis's had barely clotted properly. Arthur could only guess that his magic was being weakened by the dark miasma, preventing it from working as it should and had very little idea on what to do with regards to treatment. This contamination could certainly not lead to anything good, he decided. However, the problem was that Arthur was unable to treat such an injury and would either have to try to track down Ludwig, Antonio or Gilbert or return to Sarya with Francis.

The first option was preferable but it was unlikely he would be able to find them. The second was less so because he wouldn’t be able to get near the city due to the wards the Trio had told him about when they first crossed over and also because, even if he somehow did get inside the city, he would quite likely be imprisoned or killed for stealing one of the city's Guardians. So really, there was no favourable outcome...

Oh hell.

That was it… he remembered now! Shortly before they had been pulled forward in time he had had to fight off one the Saryen witch's demon supporters, Envy, from attacking the eldest Prince. In doing so he had had to abandon the lad (as anyone more than a century younger then Arthur inevitably would be referred to) to protect him and then, slightly outmatched, he had had to allow himself to be stabbed in order to kill the rotter. This was why he had been just far enough away when the younger Prince and his Námo had, in desperation, had begun some spell - which seemed to be connected to this whole mess… he was rambling. He would need to sleep soon.

Anyway, Roderich was acting like Envy did when Arthur had gone toe to toe against the bastard in the invasion of the Wild Court not even a week ago (to Arthur anyway).

But that was impossible, he had killed the obnoxious bastard, chopped his head clean off (and had had a very painful wound in his side to show for it). However, the similarities were too much for Arthur to simply brush off, but what could connect the two? Where did the miasma fit in, as there was very little chance that either mage (stupid gits as they were) would voluntarily allow it to wreak havoc on their magic and by extension, their bodies...? Could it have anything to do with those shadow demons? Once the creatures were disposed of they left a tar like substance behind.

He would have to think about it more later he decided. He needed to finish bandaging the fool up before getting some shut eye.

Grabbing the last roll of bandages, he began to look at a deep gash on the Guardian's calf. However, the bonding mark that was on the inside of Francis's ankle caught his eye. Before it had been just a flat line with an arc over-top, the sign of the Libra, but now... But in order for there to be a successful binding, there needed to be someone from the Wilds and considering Arthur had yet to see even tracks of someone...and he had given Francis his skin as a blanket.

Oh no.

Apprehensively, Arthur traced a hand down his leg before he grabbed his ankle - his skin surprisingly warm considering he was normally about 29ºC (or 85F)...and the webbing between his fingers was gone and oh god... he gently pulled his ankle foward and moved it into his field of vision.

The identical mark of the Libra sign entwined with a snake looked balefully back at him.

"Oh  **FUCK**  no!"

* * *

All that was now left of the shadow demons was what appeared to be ink stains on the ground as the draug's form shifted back from troll to its normal appearance and stared with hate at Eri-no, Pride. The two possessed Guardians just looked on with contempt.

"It would seem a century is long enough for a man to rot." Gluttony said snidely. "You're nothing at all like what we faced back then. Can't even take out the shadow dolls easily." He spat to the side. "Pathetic."

They all bristled, Ludwig, Feliciano Gilbert and Antonio especially as despite it becoming increasingly clear that they were under-trained, they resented that their efforts to keep up were being ridiculed.

"Let's get this over with Gluttony," Pride said, bored.

"Sit out Pride." Gluttony said, swinging around his giant mace as if it weighed little more than a feather. "I can kill them on my own, I won't need your help."

However, he jumped in surprise when Pride's rapier got in the way, and stopped him mid-swing. "No killing; the mistress wants them all alive."

"But..."

Lovino, clearly having had enough of being treated as if he wasn't there, said. “That's great. Could you two go take your marital issues to a counsellor or something and let us by? Cause I feel my brain cells dying as you waste my time with your inane chatter; we've got to collect one of our own morons.  _Move._ "

At the final statement, their motley crew attacked the two; Mathias, Ludwig, Feliciano, Vash and Lily going against Pride and Gilbert, Antonio, Lovino and Elizabeta attacking Gluttony.

Ludwig and Vash countered any spells Pride used just as Gilbert and Antonio did for Gluttony, while launching their own, keeping the pair busy and protecting those of the Wild Courts, leaving them free to attack.

And attack they did.

Feliciano was using more distance attacks, considering that he was a water elemental and that he was far away from any water, all he could do was manipulate what was in the air and in the soil, making the battlefield as slick as possible and visibility difficult for their opponent, surrounding his head in a mist. Lily and Mathias had paired up, making it difficult for Pride to keep any sort of defence as the Vila would dive from above while the Draug attacked from the sides. Lovino and Elizabeta seemed to get on swimmingly, the Kitsune surrounding Gluttony with fireballs and the Fury attacking with her claws and whip from above, her leathery skin immune to the flames.

Still, though they were very much outnumbered, Pride and Gluttony still managed to put up a good fight and the three were soon covered in hundreds of little wounds and Lovino and Elizabeta sported dark bruises from where the mace had but grazed them and one or two broken bones. The worst part was that neither was giving any ground, so with each passing second, Envy and Francis got farther and farther away from them and that much closer to Francis being turned by the miasma.

It seemed as if they would continue fighting like that until Judgement Day and trumpets sound, but then as if by some unknown signal, the pair broke off and managed to escape into the side.

"The hell?"

"Nevermind them, we have to go catch up with Francis!"

* * *

_So close._

_He found._

_Why important?_

_Is Special._

_Why?_

_They coming._

_Their sharp teeth and claws, good for tearing, gnawing, biting._

_Living but not._

_Must run._

_Protect little one._

_Lead predators away._

_Can't be caught._

_Run!_

* * *

Colonel Lars strode down the hall, his well-polished boots clicking angrily against the tile, though otherwise his ire was completely hidden. Captain Eduard and First Lieutenant Raivis trailed behind, equally aggravated.

"What are those idiots thinking?" He seethed once they were back in his private office, far from any eavesdroppers.

Fst. Lt. Raivis nodded. "This is more than the normal power struggles the higher ups get into...This war makes no sense!"

Capt. Eduard gave a sigh. "It's not that it doesn't make sense, the Saryens are our ancient enemies. There just hasn't been any conflict with them in a long time. I want to know more 'why' as we are not even remotely prepared for this and also why the Generals refused to give us any explanation."

"Nevermind that." Col. Lars said, pouring himself a shot of brandy and slugging it back. "They never asked myself or the other colonels like they normally would for our opinions on the matter, they failed to mention it was even in the works during past debriefings and they expect us to mobilize every division in Nichac for a full scale invasion in two days! Considering how far away some outposts are, this is going to take at least a week! What are they thinking?" He snarled before he turned to his comrades, the only two people he could really trust in this mad house, having gone through cadets together. "Want some brandy?"

They stayed in his office for the rest of the night, attempting to figure how best to follow their orders and made preparations of their own.

* * *

 

When the two trade nomadic caravans met in the desert by the mountain range dividing Sarya from Nichac, there was great celebrations between the two and the exchanging of goods. As they settled in for the night, the two leaders shared a tent sharing stories of towns they had left behind, gossip of other travelling caravans and also more important information like which towns would be most welcoming and that sort of thing.

As the night passed Steven, the leader of the  _Down Under_  Caravan grew unexpectedly serious and turned to the  _Dharma Chakra_  leader, Aadya and said "Whatever you do thou', don't go by the capital. Something strange's going on, folk are uneasy, scared. There's talk o'war, war with the Saryens."

Aadya leaned back, pushing away his empty plate as he lit his pipe, sighing on the exhale. "That's...curious. We have been at peace for so long, this will destroy our trade routes. Have you managed to get a hold of the Far Eastern routes to tell them this? If not, the  _Formosan Blue Magpies_  and Mei Mei should be close enough to send a messenger bird from Judijina and I will try to get a hold of the more northern routes through Georgi and the _Mila Rodino._  They should be up near Runitr for the festival in a few days. I believe we should have a caravan meeting - perhaps try and contact any other nomads in the area outside out system - to figure out how we shall best handle this."

Steven nodded his assent, looking a lot older than his twenty-four years. "I don't know if we will be able to handle this, mate. There's dark clouds brewing… I don’t have much in the way o’power but I got a bit of my Mam’s foresight and nothing I can see bares well for any folk. Something is pushing for the complete destruction of the land."

They stayed up, continuing to talk in the barren wasteland, their lantern the lone point of light for kilometres before the next morning packing up and moving, the wind quickly scattering their tracks in the sand. 

* * *

The gates creaked as the four deadliest of the abandoned fortress's inhabitants were unleashed.

They were all of the court of the Wild and seemed to flaunt that heritage, as none were in the purely human form that their bond with their Námo allowed.

Pestilence, his clothing all in white and on a white horse was offset by the green scales covering all of his skin and had a bow strapped across his torso. Behind him came Famine on a black horse, carrying a set of scales and his wings, while folded, could clearly be seen as they were no longer their normal gold but coal black, showing the poor creature's corruption. Then came War, a great wolf demon on an auburn horse, its fur red as if it had been rolling in blood, clearly only drawing on his human form enough to sit astride the horse and to hold a broadsword in his paws. Finally, came Death on a bay horse, carrying his scythe on his shoulder, he appeared to be the most human in a yellow cloak, though it was curious, his eyes were blindfolded and if he were to open his mouth, one would see long fangs and a forked tongue.

The Aras-Raw had been allowed to wander free for too long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caravan names I came up with at too early in the morning and were just things that I personally associated with the country in order to clear up which character was which. If it really wasn't Steven=Australia, Aadya=India (who is canon now!), Mei Mei=Taiwan and Georgi=Bulgaria
> 
> Please keep in mind that I will only be basing the monsters after their traditional descriptions (which are what I've been posting)
> 
> * * *
> 
>  **Arthur: Snake.** Snakes are intelligent, graceful, very creative, diligent, excellent problem-solvers, easily stressed, easily bored, romantic, clever, discreet, refined, vain and hot-tempered. Goal oriented, seek what they feel is deserved and will scheme and plot to do it - are ambitious. They can also really hold a grudge, tend to keep true emotions close, are extremely analytical and as a result, they don't jump into situations. Enjoy solid foundation of friends and family whom they love deeply but also insecure: will guard those they care about like prized possessions: easily made jealous and slightly obsessive.
> 
>  **Francis: Libra.** Libras are kind, original, indecisive, optimistic, sentimental, free-spirited and born flirts. Do not enjoy conflict, doing their best to create balance and harmony, wanting to please as many as possible and as such, tend to overthink everything. Are constantly surrounded by change, usually instigating it themselves and are very visual people. As an air sign, they are also intellectual, impatient, spiteful, flighty, confronting, romantic and independent


	9. Chapter 9

"You  _lost_  him?" Hissed an incredulous voice.

"That's pathetic, even for you Envy. You failed despite Gluttony and Pride backing you up! You didn't even see your attacker, are you really so weak?" Said a neutral voice, laced ever so slightly with scorn.

Envy stood there, under heavy scrutiny of the other four mages in the room, unable to even come with any sort of defence.

Since he had regained consciousness and had had to return empty handed, the others had been lecturing him. Wrath was livid that Lust's vessel was gone, Greed looked at him patronizingly, Sloth seemed mostly indifferent (but then he always did), Gluttony seemed to ignore his very existence and Pride..."Wrath and Greed are right Envy." Pride said. "How did you manage to make such a simple and dangerous mistake? Perhaps would should break your stiletto - you know what that would mean for you. Perhaps we could even offer your host to Lust since it appears you are too worthless to do your job properly."

Envy paled and shook slightly before straightening his back and glaring, that was not a fate easily accepted and he would fight it as best he was able.

However for now, his fate was undecided, Pride turning to Wrath. "Wrath, your host...Tino I believe his name was, he was close to all the other Guardians, especially the Draug. Track down the vessel for Lust, if he has fallen back into their hands then they should hesitate slightly before fighting you. Take Sloth and Greed with you, Heracles and Gupta were also well liked and then in that moment of hesitation, kill them all and bring him here."

Wrath stuck his tongue out in thought; allowing his bindings mark of the Gemini and Ox, though corrupted by the red hourglass, to be seen.

"Perhaps." Wrath finally answered, "Though you know I prefer working alone, why do I have to bring the Old Goat..."

"Capricorn." Greed interrupted, sounding bored.

"...and the lazy Fish with me?" Wrath glared at him as he finished.

"Just do it." Pride said with disdain. "The Mistress will already be very displeased with Envy's failure and the sooner you head out and the faster the vessel is brought in, the better."

Before the others could accept or argue further, Sloth who had just entered the room his normally dreaming brown eyes wide and alert, interrupted. "Not a good idea. The Horsemen have been sent out for the Aras-Raw that has been alluding the Mistress and to clean up Envy's mess."

"What." Pride exclaimed. "Why have I not heard of this?"

"It happened only little under an hour ago," Sloth answered. "We have been ordered to prepare for war. The Mistress has pushed the Nichacs into war and we are to prepare an army to invade from the East while the Nichac forces come from the West. She plans to eradicate at long last Sarya which will then allow us to freely track  _him_  once they are completely razed from the earth."

"Well," Pride said reflectively, looking out the window, "at least that problem is solved. There will be no escaping  _them_  after all."

* * *

 

They had lost the tracks.

After all that,  _they had lost the tracks._

It was almost as though Roderich/Envy had flown away with Francis, the trail vanishing after a stretch of bare rock. Lovino, with his sharp nose, was able to track them a little farther then that before that method too failed.

Elizabeta, with the help of Gilbert, Ludwig and Feli and Vash and Lily, was able to remove the binding curse Roderich had placed on her, allowing her not only to be able to speak in languages besides the hissing one of the Furies but also to assume human form once more. Ludwig then set Gilbert's arm (it having been badly broken too many times to just be instantly healed by magic) and placing an overnight healing spell on it before tending to any of the other injuries that had been gained in battle against the two Sins. The mages were now sleeping off the effects of having removed such powerful magic. Mathias had simply explained a way to contact him before he disappeared shortly after the Gluttony and Pride had while Lovi had mentally retreated to his thoughts.

They were now sitting along the trail, replenishing their energy by eating and taking naps, each silent as they tried to think of a way to find their friend once more.

Antonio fished the rabbit he'd been cooking out of the fire and walked to where Lovino was sitting to the side.

It was clear the nine-tails was lost in thought, tossing what appeared to be a large ring in the air and catching, slipping it on his thumb, taking it off, twisting it, then throwing it in the air once more.

Sitting down beside his partner he simultaneously offered the plate of meat with one hand while he reached over and caught the object with the other.

As Lovino began to silently eat, Antonio examined the ring-type object. He quickly concluded that it was not, in fact, a ring as the metal was far too thick considering it was about a centimetre wide. That, and on one side there was a bit of an edge sticking out, like the tail on the letter Q did. The metal was not easily identifiable either - it didn't hold the shine gold did nor did it have the taste of copper, it certainly wasn't steel by the colour... all in all, very strange.

"Lovi…" He began, curiosity leaking into his tone, "What is this?"

"I don't know." Came the blunt reply.

"You don't?" Antonio said, surprised.

"No." The fox snapped slamming down the plate a little harder than necessary, clearly irritated that he was unable to track Francis further, had been tricked and had been looked down upon numerous times in one day. "No, I don't. I just found it in my pocket. All I know is that I get the feeling that I shouldn't lose it so kindly give it back would you or I'll break your fingers, idiot."

Antonio did as Lovino asked, though he blinked, clearly confused. Deciding that his food was clearly more interested than the confused mage, Lovi turned back to his plate and continued to eat.

In the meantime, Antonio became lost in thought.  _It was in his pocket? How very peculiar. He didn't **have**  pockets before he met me and made our bond, allowing him to adopt a human form. We've only known each other for four days now, he wouldn't have forgotten putting something in his pockets in that time, especially something so strange. What could this be? ...And Lovino wouldn't actually break his fingers, right? He was just a bit rough around the edges... Yeah, that was it._ 

* * *

 

_No time._

_Too close._

_Hunters too close._

_Faun too close._

_Hunters have found!_

_Danger. Pain. Run._

_Painpainpain_   **pain.**

 

* * *

"Alright, so I call this meeting of the Compass Rose to order!"

They had managed to get messenger birds out to the nearest caravans and had contacted the other four with giving the promise of sending updates. They were all in the largest tent that Aadya's trade caravan had, one representing those from each compass point, as ordered by their ancient charter (when there were fifty caravans, not eight...they really needed to revise it at some point).

 _It was just plain, dumb luck that those closest met the bill,_  Aadya mused.

Mei Mei and the  _Formosan Blue Magpies_  represented the caravans whose base lay to the East, Georgi and the  _Mila Rodino_  for the North, Steven and those from the  _Down Under_  for those to the South and his own  _Dharma Charkra_  representing those to the West.

The tent not being large enough for everyone, each leader of the caravan along with of the ten most respected and with the most in touch with common opinion from each were seated around a small fire. After serving out the dinner, they began to discuss.

Commonly considered vagrants and gypsies in addition to traders, possibly because of their laisse-faire attitudes (compared to the regimented Nichacs) and their declared neutrality so they could trade with the Saryens; they were not affiliated with the Nichacs. So now that war was clearly looming on the horizon, they face the decision of whether or not they would side with the Nichacs or the Saryens.

As the candles burned progressively lower, the debate got fiercer and fiercer, while none of them felt any loyalty to the Nichacs considering the abuse and mistrust they experienced as "outsiders"; neither did they feel any particular loyalty to the Saryens who looked down upon them as being low-class and poorly educated. There were those even arguing that they should even go through Sarya and pass into the lowlands of Birsui or up into the icy wasteland of Aryca. If they sided with Nichac, they would most likely be siding with the victors as they were militarily superior, had greater numbers and the element of surprise on their hands. If they chose Sarya then they could give advance warning (thus earning much more trade in the future, Nichac was very stingy), be on the morally higher ground by siding with the to-be victims and the Saryens had somehow defeated the Nichacs in the past, perhaps they could do it again. Also the Saryens were fairly kind to them - those in the major city less so but the rural communities treated them as family - and none of them wanted to see the vast forests of Sarya be turned into fuel for the industries, especially as the motives behind this war were unclear. If they didn't pick either, they would be losing access to both their markets and their future as trade caravans would be jeopardized but their lives would be saved, though there was no guarantee that the Nichacs wouldn't turn on the agrarian/fishing communities of Birsui or the barren snow-covered Aryca or even the caravans themselves!

The debate raged long into the night until the decision was tentatively made to support the Saryens as it was felt their losses would be the least to side with them. With that, messages were quickly scrawled out and prepared to be sent out by bird at the nearest opportunity. The two caravans that were in Birsui and the one in Aryca needed to know that they could not come back to Nichac while the other one that were also in the borders of Nichac needed to know that it needed to get out.

Aarya leaned back from his desk as he finished the last note and blew on the ink, drying it before he rubbed his eyes. Getting up and stretching, he opened the flap of his tent and went to where the carrier pigeons lay to relay their decision before he noticed the blood-red dawn.

What was the expression...? _Red skies at night, sailors delight. Red skies in the morning, sailors take warning._ Something like that. Hmm. His mother had raised him to take heed of the omens that nature gave. Red skies. Danger then if not plenty of blood being spilt the day before.

Quickly packing up his things, he packed up his small tent and began to wake the others. The earth was quiet as well, no bird song or small creatures moving around. It was an eerie quiet which when coupled with the red dawn made Aadya very nervous.

Steven was already outside, nervously puffing at his pipe before whispering the Aadya that he had the sudden premonition that the bird intended for the Thai Sa and the  _White Elephants_  had been intercepted. While Aadya was uncertain of magic, his gut instinct had rarely been wrong before and coupled with Steven’s own rarely wrong premonitions, the camp was immediately turned upside down in a flurry of activity. Despite the initial grumblings from the other caravans and from those who believed they should stay in Nichac, those who had travelled with Aadya before just obeyed and they were gone in under ten minutes, riding for the border. Those that had whined were silenced hours later when they ran into what remained of the _White Elephant_ caravan as only Thai Se and a handful of others had escaped the night attack by the local garrison for the suspicion of being spies.

It was clear: war was brewing and their only real chance of survival lay on the other side of the mountain range.

* * *

They had passed a restless night, each off in their own little world as they each thought of what to do next. They had lost Francis's trail, was there any way to regain it? If not, what should they do? Go back to the capital of Sarya? What was happening to Francis? Also, they now know about the larger threat posed by the remaining allies of the Saryen witch, perhaps there was still a bigger threat to come. There were too many unknowns. Why did the Sins and Horsemen possess the exhausted Guardians after the last battle? Why were they even able to? There should not have been anything left tying them to the world; Vash insisting that he’d personally put an end to two of the godscursed cowards and seen Arthur slay a third. What was their plans? Why were they returning now? Just what were they supposed to do? Sure, they were Guardians, with the mission to protect Sarya and the Wild Courts from those that wished them harm but who were they defending it from? They hadn't been trained properly, the Nichacs had been very peaceful, Birsui and Aryca hadn't ever been a threat to begin with, the Court of the Wilds had vanished...Just what was their purpose?

With such questions racing through their minds, needless to say, they all got little sleep and they ate their meagre breakfast in silence; no one yet being prepared to talk.

It was all too much, all of them were behind by decades, new to their power (in a sense) or completely out of touch...

However, the decision was made for them as a wolf demon carrying a broadsword and riding an auburn horse came charging into the clearing. Instinctively, Ludwig raised a wall of earth as a temporary barrier while Gilbert and Antonio readied major fire blasts assisted by Vash's winds. Elizabeta, now able to freely change her shape, assumed her natural form of Fury and hissed out "Berwald." just as Lily also changed into her Vila form; both women being prepared to attack at any moment. Lovino stood by Antonio, prepared to shift if need be while Feliciano ran to go stand in front of Gilbert who, because of his arm not being fully healed, would not be able to easily defend himself.

A day or two of nearly constant combat and nerves being on end did have its benefits after all.

However, they were surprised when instead of being attacked, the demon just spurred his horse on and over Ludwig's wall.

To their further collective surprise, just as the horse completed the jump, a great, white stag came leaping out of the nearby bushes pursued by a black horse and the corrupted Boar Guardian, Kiku. Berwald, letting out a howl (the corrupted mark of the Ox and Gemini being seen briefly on his tongue) cut the stag off, causing it to pivot and duck around the horse. The Wolf demon turned in his saddle and swung his great broadsword downward only to be blocked by Vash's spell - an air shield. Lovino then, having dropped into his own demon form, lunged forward with Antonio, both of them knocking the Ox Guardian of his horse and into ground combat.

The Boar Guardian was far from idle, having dismounted and having begun to pull an obviously enchanted set of scales from his pack. Elizabeta, seeing this, grabbed Lily's attention and together they went after the Griffon who was then forced to assume his full shape and take to the skies to properly fight back. Vash darted between Lovino, Antonio and Berwald's fighting to go to where the scales lay on the ground in order to get a better view of the aerial fight and to provide any magical assistance he could. As the fight continued, he disappeared into the forest as the combatants got farther and farther away.

The stag, seeming to realize it was now safe, had sunk to the ground before leaning over to lick at the open wound on its flank. Gilbert slowly knelt to the ground and after making it clear he was not going to harm the deer, placed his one hand by the wound before beginning the spell that heal the ugly wound. As he sunk into a trance, focusing his magic first onto the damaged veins and arteries, a third horse burst into the clearing.

This one was white and carried a humanoid figure, his clothing all in white offset by the green scales covering all of his skin (ruining the chance of him being human) and had a drawn bow. As soon as he cleared the trees, the figure rapidly drew arrows and fired them at Gilbert and the stag only for the Earth to rise once more as Ludwig came to his great-nephew's defence.

Word about water elementals. Don't get them mad. Don't. Just don't.

Especially when there is water nearby.

Feliciano, having seen Gilbert grow up, lonely and shunned, was very protective of the human; even seeing him as family. And you do  _not_  threaten his family. In an instant, his human appearance had disappeared, leaving something vaguely humanoid in its wake. Feliciano let out an unearthly roar reminiscent of rapids or a waterfall and a crashing wave before the nearby river responded to his call, the water overflowing its banks and boosting his power.

The creature on the horse responded in the same vein, jumping off his horse and resuming his own monstrous form, his legs melding together to form a tail, claws growing and shooting up in height.

The naga and the elemental were soon locked in deadly combat while Ludwig watched, offering magical backup as he could and also keeping an eye on Gilbert, powerless in his trance state.

The deer was now out of the dangerous zone at least; as to any learned eye the Aries Guardian had finished with the damaged veins and had looked after damaged bone and ligaments and was now beginning to heal the torn muscles. Ludwig was proud, despite Gilbert finding healing magic more difficult (it was in the realm of water magic, the opposite of the fire he specialized in), he was repairing the damage at a very quick rate.

He turned just as a fourth horse came running into the clearing, the bay horse being without a rider. Ludwig quickly caught the horse before it could run into any of the deadly fights and patted the side, it was terrified as its ears were snapped forward, the white of its eyes showing, nostrils flared and flanks heaving.

Ludwig looked back to where the horse had come and saw Mathias (where had he come from anyway? The Draug had made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with them) locked in combat with an enormous snake. Recognizing the dark colour of the scales and the hissing from some forgotten memory, he quickly looked away. Mathias as one of the undead was the only one of them who could truly fight against a Basilisk.

Seeing as it appeared Gilbert was coming back to his senses, he darted over to where Feliciano was having trouble with Naga in order to help him tip the scales of battle in his partners favour. It had so far been an even match as Nagas are creatures that live in the water which made Feliciano's typically very effective attacks relatively harmless as there was no longer the threat of drowning. Though while Feli was not in danger of being injured, his elemental form lacking substance as it was just water, the Naga was in danger of getting past him. Drawing up his power, he began pushing the creature back and attacking with solid rock and the threat of fire.

It was only when he heard a cry of pain that he realized something might be wrong. Looking back to where Antonio and Lovino were fighting, he was alarmed to see the Wolf Demon change his shape from the more humanoid into that of the full wolf, giving him a moment of surprise to scratch Antonio and to dart past the pair. Gilbert threw a fire spell at the approaching Ox Guardian but it was clear that he was at a slight disadvantage with a barely-healed broken arm and momentarily tired because of the healing spell.

That was when the stag acted. Shooting to its feet, he knocked Gilbert onto his back and tore off to the side, into the trees and to where Ludwig couldn't follow.

* * *

Lars couldn't believe it.

While it wasn't the two days they had been given to muster forces, bringing in nearly every soldier from each corner of the Nichac Empire in five days was no easy feat either. In fact, he would have considered it impossible had he not been here to witness it.

It should have been impossible, all logic went against it. There was no physical way that you could get a messenger all the way to the boundaries, have each base quickly muster for their summoning and make it back to the capital.

There was  _no_  way.

There was something very odd going on here, unnatural even, and he didn't like it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was some confusion over Arthur's little panic ramble – when the bond is completed between a pair, the creature/monster/demon/what-have-you then is able to adopt human form – like how when Lovino/Antonio's bond was completed, Lovino turned human. So the same thing happened but due to Arthur being able to shed his seal skin, he was already able to adopt a human like form so I needed something to signify that it was different. So Arthur Selkie-human form, he has sharper canines, a cooler body temperature, pointy ears, larger eyes (like a seals) and has webbing between his fingers and toes (also slight claws) I hope that helps and makes sense and was freaking out over their disappearance :D Sorry if that wasn't entirely clear.
> 
> * * *
> 
>  **Tino: Gemini –** Gemini are kind, persuasive, intellectual, lively adaptable, talkative, trendy, untamable spirits and charming. Need communication – uncomfortable in quiet and unsure how to react around someone who they haven't talked to first, need their freedom and space, hate staying still/not having anything useful to do, like helping others and are always full of ideas. As an air sign, Geminis also tend to be logical, flirty, impatient, spiteful, flighty, confronting, debating and romantic
> 
>  **Gupta: Capricorn** – Capricorns are ambitious but practical, strong, precise, stern, stubborn, disciplined, productive, serious thinkers and are usually very good intentioned. Tend not to do or say anything without thinking it through, keep inner most thoughts/feelings inside and have good judgement, know their limits and operate within them and are very much of the "reap what have sown" attitude. As an earth sign Capricorns tend to be well-grounded, responsible, giving, conservative, organized, perfectionists and family-oriented.
> 
>  **Berwald: Ox** – Oxes are dependable, trustworthy, strong, determined, quick-tempered,sincere, patient, quick-thinking, self confident, inspiring, conservative, steadfast, methodical, eccentric and posses a strong sense of morals. Change makes them uncomfortable, abhor small talk and wont waste their time flirting (prefer strong, life-long alliances to casual acquaintances), feel time is better spent with family or friends and love being at home where will allow themselves to relax. Also enjoy outdoors and spend the majority of free time working in the garden or caring for the yard while when working, enjoy methodical and routine work, believe should do best with no shortcuts - those who don't work hard are lazy individuals not worthy of respect. Are not likely to show emotion, have difficulty interpreting the feelings of others.
> 
> * * *
> 
>  **Wolf Demon (Berwald)** – Based off of the Loup-Garou/Werewolf: one who can change from man to beast. Depending on which mythology looking at can be a willing change, others claim forceful, others still on needing full moon – though in Berwalds case, wolf form, not human is original form and can change at will. Perfect predator, a hybrid of human intelligence and instinct and is strong, capable of ripping anything apart. Strong, fast, agile, increased strength of senses and with lots of endurance combined with regenerative ability makes loup-garou's dangerous Reasons for becoming one include not going to church for months, eating human flesh, being bitten by another werewolf, being made to by a divinity to pay for transgressions, being cursed, wearing the skin, sleeping atop a wolf-skin while drinking a potion for a month...Can only be killed with a silver bullet.


	10. Chapter 10

_Made Mistake._

_Nearly caught._

_Unnatural hurt._

_No pain._

_Why Upset?_

_Need escape hunters._

_Sharp teeth and claws._

_Living but not._

_Corrupted and twisted._

_Will Hurt._

_Protect Him._

_Why?_

* * *

 

Gilbert was freaking out.

"No...! Deer! Stag! Cervid-thing! Whatever the heck you are! TURN AROUND!"

However, the creature just continued to run, ignoring Gilbert's cries as his comrades got further and further into the distance.

"Don't make me leave them!" He pleaded into the heaving neck as trees rushed past.

Then he was alone again.

He couldn't jump off (in fact he'd had to pull himself up a bit to prevent himself from falling off), with the speed the animal was moving and the fact that his arm was still rather broken, doing so would be more of a controlled fall that would leave him very injured afterwards. Maybe even very dead judging by the large amount of rocks and how many jumps the stag was doing to get over fallen trees and the like.

So that option was out. Instead, Gilbert was doing the next best thing, probably the only thing he could do. He watched where they were going, trying to pinpoint landmarks in order to remember how to get when the animal stopped running.

However, after about fifteen minutes and the creature showing no signs of stopping, Gilbert couldn't really remember the path. Worse yet is that his follow-up plan of following the tracks back to his friends were slowly disappearing. Literally. It was now pouring rain and getting dark so it was impossible to see and any sort of tracks were washed away.

Why was he so unlucky?

The deer seemed not to notice and continued to run through the curtain of rain until Gilbert was sure they were nearly at the borders of Sarya and Birsui. Only once the sun had completely set did the animal come to a complete stop, bringing them to shelter in a nearby cave.

Gilbert gratefully slid off the deer's back with legs that shook, sore and tired from having remained in one position for what felt like forever. Clinging to the creature's back as he gradually gained sensation and circulation back in his legs before he staggered off to the side, sliding down the wall and putting his head on his knees feeling numb.

He was lost in the wilderness, with no one but a strange white deer to keep him company and the Saryen's witch's followers chasing after him/it. Things were not looking up. Especially as, to supposedly safeguard the legacy of the Guardians, he had left the capital city twice (not counting the yearly Guardian spell trips) and nowhere near this far out. So there was no landmark he could find, no clue from above the treetops to point him somewhere he knew or his friends that he would recognize. That terror, the fear of being so completely alone and not knowing what to do gripped his very being.

What could he do now? The only thing coming to mind would be... to _kill the dear, roast it and eat it._

What? He was hungry and it would be karma for getting him lost in the first place. But Gilbert was a better person then that...or at least he thought so, only time would tell really.

...Wow, Ludwig would be smacking him around the head right now, telling him not to feel sorry for himself and get his sorry ass in gear. He had done his best to train the trio for active duty (if the time ever came) which included wilderness survival.

So getting off of said sorry ass, Gilbert darted out into the rain and dragged some of the wood back inside the cave with him. After doing his best to draw the water out (water magic not being his forte and all), he made a small starting cabin of wood as close to the mouth of the cave as he dared (it wouldn't do for the wood to get wet again but the smoke also needed a place to escape to). Then he shoved many twigs and leaves in the middle before putting some of the birch bark he always carried with him in a little pouch on the top. After that, he tried to get a spark going and after a few tries, the wood at last caught. Rustling around in the pouch he then drew out the jerky and herbs he kept there. It wasn't the most filling, but it was food.

Just as he was about to sigh in satisfaction at attaining all essentially points of survival (shelter, food, safety and heat), he heard a crunch beside him and saw the deer standing there, miserably looking down at the herbs resting on his calf.

It was hungry.

"Sorry buddy, but these are mine. There's plenty of grass out there, go get it!" Gilbert said as he tried to make shooing motions with his slung arm -  _he was never breaking this arm again, an acquired built up immunity to healing magic was not fun_  - and trying not to look the stag in the eyes.

Because he had a secret weakness to cute things.

And deer eyes were nearly as potent as puppy eyes he was sure.

Had it gone away?

...Hell. He had looked. The animal had gotten even closer and upon getting eye contact, had gently nudged him with his nose while looking abso-fucking-lutely  _pitiful._  He was doomed. His inability to resist was going to get him into a lot of trouble one day, Gilbert just knew it.

"Fine. Here you go." Holding the jerky in his teeth, his good hand then offered the herbs up to the stag who wolfed them down in seconds.

Then the creature did something odd.

Upon finishing, it took a few steps back and lowered its head in what could only be a bow.

After a moment or two, not knowing what else to do, Gilbert got up and bowed back. Suddenly the fire (that he had spent so long starting!) went out. Before he could say or do anything, a hissing sound rang in the air and smoke began to gather, then in an instant with a flash of light, a glowing circle appeared under the duo, vanishing as quickly as it came, plunging them once more into darkness.

Feeling his heart stop, in the darkness there was a glowing mark floating in the air.

His mark.

His Aries mark combined with that of the Dog.

The one in the small of his back, the one he would normally need a mirror to see.

He had found his partner.

_He had found his partner!_

Shock seemed to keep him rooted in place, along with something else. Fear. Had there been another mistake? He had never heard of any demon or creature though that was a white stag or that could take the form of one.

He could find out. He specialized in fire magic after all; a snap of his fingers and he would be able to see just what lurked in the dark. But did he dare? Then he mentally kicked himself, how long would he stand here like an idiot? Nothing would change with him just standing here, he could either step forward or step back, that was all there was to it.

With a deep breath, he conjured just enough flame to light the cave before he felt his knees buckle at what he saw.

* * *

 

"GILBERT!" Ludwig roared as the thrice-damned deer took off with his only living relative, taking him to where he couldn't follow.

If only he wasn't stuck fighting an enraged, deluded and possessed Naga.

He couldn't even watch his brother-of-sorts fade into the distance as the snake-being darted forward, missing the Taurus's guardian's neck by centimetres as Ludwig dodged, the creature's jaw clicking together audibly when it missed its target.

It was not a fight he could afford to be distracted in.

So with one last quick glance over his shoulder - _dammit, he had already vanished_  - Ludwig turned his attention back the shifting scales and deadly teeth.

He and Feli were being hard pressed. Feliciano, being a being of water, was a disadvantage as Nagas live in the water and can breathe in the liquid, making most of his attacks useless or at least not very effective. Though on the other hand, the poison in the snake's fangs and breath along with most physical attacks didn't affect his partner (the exception being the magicked arrows and bow the Naga carried).

But they affected Ludwig.

He knew that they would need to finish this fight quickly as despite his efforts, he had inhaled some of the poison and could feel it already slowly leadening his limbs and making it harder to think. As Feli once more drew the creature away from him, he sat on the ground in a meditative pose, slowing his breathing and drawing on his magic. This allowed him to slow the spread of the poison and neutralize it a bit while also preparing himself for a more complex spell.

As he finished gathering all the power he needed, he brought his hands up from where they rested on his knees, clapping them together before slamming his hands into the ground, channelling the power from his core into the earth.

Ludwig always loved the rush that came with working with his element. Unlike Fire, Earth was predictable and didn't fight his will and unlike Air, Earth was strong, a force to be reckoned with and then unlike Water, Earth was solid. Earth was everywhere, dependable, it was life giving and the best element to protect those he cared about. He liked his feet on the ground, the warmth that the soil greeted him with, the peace it gave him.

However, now it was anything but peaceful and welcoming. The soil felt his fury and worry and responded, rising up and lashing out at the twisting snake-being. The demon was caught unawares, the ground pitching and yawing while rocks flew at him and Ludwig never gave him the chance to recover. Instead, with a twist of his wrist, the earth rose up and created a cage as Feliciano slipped away. Then, taking a deep breath, Ludwig brought his hands up and with a few more gestures, got the earth to swallow up the demon's tail, cover its mouth and to trap his arms, effectively capturing him and neutralizing any further threat for the time being.

Just after he finished, a wave of dizziness hit him and his hands flew to the earth once more to steady himself. He would have to heal himself, remove the poison before doing anything else.

Feeling Feli's hands on his shoulders, steadying him, he looked up and gave a small smile to the elemental as he reached up with one hand to grip the others. Over the years, they had become very close friends and Ludwig trusted him more than anything and knew him very well. And he knew that at the moment that his companion was a step away from having a breakdown. Feli hated to fight, even more than that, he hated to fight those he considered friends. While neither of them could remember their time among the Twelve Guardians before that night, those feelings of camaraderie simply didn't just fade. Judging by how his hands shook and that he hadn't been able to fully assume human form (not being fully solid), he knew that the Rabbit was very shook up. And not just over the fight, but also that he was poisoned and that Gilbert, the third member of their 'family', was now somewhere where they couldn't protect him.

For now, the least he could do was to remove the poison to alleviate some of his partner's worries. Closing his eyes, he began to concentrate and 'looked' inwards. It took him a few moments, but at last he was able to locate the black, foul poison sluggishly travelling through his bloodstream. Casting about his magic like a net, he slowly began to draw it back up through his body, up to his heart then into his lungs. There, he gathered the rest of the poison attached to the air molecules and his lungs before drawing it up. He snapped open his eyes and began to cough, the poison falling from his lips as Feli helped hold him steady and rubbed his back.

He was looking forward to quiet days once more in Sarya once this adventure-or-sorts was over. He had had enough excitement and life/death moments to last him awhile.

Getting to his feet, he stumbled over to where his opponent's bow lay on the ground. After a moment or two, his curiosity getting better of him, he picked it up. Giving it a cursory going over, he then drew on his magic to examine it.

As soon as his power came into contact with the wood, it was clear that it was enchanted, some dark power rising up and pulling both him and his conscience in, leaving him to fall to the ground.

* * *

 

Mathias howled in rage and in pain as the corrupted Rat Guardian's teeth sank into his shoulder, releasing the deadly venom. While he couldn't be killed by the poison, it still hurt, feeling almost as though his body was on fire.

Gritting his teeth, he swung his fist up and punched Yong Soo in the jaw, dislodging the fangs from his shoulder and sending the Basilisk flying. With a roar, he changed his shape once more into that of a Troll and lunged forward.

He knew something had happened to them all that night a century ago, he might not have been able to witness what had happened due to his partner's treachery but he had a good idea. It saddened him to know that the happy-go-lucky snake - the one that loved all forms of life, the one that would volunteer at the animal shelters and the one that playing with kids when they had time off (in his human shape of course) - had been reduced to this mindless killing machine.

Yong Soo and he had been fighting for about an hour now, both of them shifting between shapes, Yong Soo going from his deadly Basilisk form to his human one to wield his scythe while he shifted between his Draug form and that of a Troll. In that time, it had become clear that the Yong Soo that he had known was completely gone, it was as though he had been replaced by a completely different person...

Before they could clash once more, a hair-raising scream of pain rang in the air and Yong Soo broke off his attack and assumed his human form as he began to run away from him and East... back to where the others had been he realized with a start.

With worry he didn't know he could still feel, Mathias ran after him.

* * *

 

Lars couldn't believe it.

He walked as quickly as he dared back to his office, trying to hurry without drawing any attention to himself.

There _was_ something unnatural going on.

He had had his suspicions but he had never thought, he couldn't believe that both the High Council and the Aran both knew and were working together with those...freaks! He had been doing some snooping after his initial suspicions brought about by their impossibly fast mustering but, this. This was beyond his wildest dreams.

However this train of thought was interrupted when a great weight crashed into his side, knocking him into an empty office and onto the ground. As his training kicked in and he began to turn to meet his assailant, cold steel pricked his skin and a sickeningly sweet voice whispered into his ear:  
"My, what is this? An eavesdropping rat, what ever shall we do with you?"

Lars heart sank as he knew this voice, he had heard it only moments before after all.

The leader of those unnatural freaks had him at her mercy.

* * *

 

Darkness surrounded him, wrapping itself around him, binding him, choking him.

Consuming him.

What was he doing? Who was he? There was something important. What was it? But struggle as he might to remember, he remained ignorant.

Snippets of sound echoed around him every now and again. He decided the voices were ghosts as the words seemed to hold echoes of pain, blood and much death while the sounds were of the earth groaning, the sky crying and fire crackling.

He had long ago stopped trying to make sense of it all.

He floated here, largely unconcerned for eons and seconds all at once.

However, before he could become fully numb, a strange shadowy figure approached him holding forth a lantern, blinding him with the light.

"Why are you here?" A tenor voice rang out from beneath the hood, sounding more real than anything else he had heard in a long time.

After a moment he found his voice, realizing that the strange figure was speaking to him. "What?"

"Why are you here Francis?" The figure repeated.

"Francis? Fran-cis... who is Francis?" He rolled the name around on his tongue, tasting it, drawing out and testing each syllable.

The figure tensed and brought a hand up to rest on his forehead, causing a jolt of power to run through him "It is time for you to stop walking in the shadows and in darkness and wake up. Walk once more in the light Francs, Libra Guardian. You have already been asleep for too long."

Francis. Yes. That was his name, wasn't it? Why did he forget?

"You cannot stay here."

Francis nodded, processing the information but said, "Why not? Where is here anyway? Who are you?"

"You cannot stay or else you will be trapped here like us, except only your conscience will be." The figure said after a pause. "As for the rest, difficult to say. I cannot truly say for not even the spell book knows. Away. You'll have to figure it out yourself."

At that, he let go of the lantern, though it did not fall and simply hung there in the air. "Now Francis, Libra Guardian. It is time for you to wake."

At those words, the cloaked man pushed Francis, causing him to fall off a precipice that hadn't been there before.

As the world dissolved, all he could see was a pair of fathomless blue eyes before he was once more in darkness. Sitting up, he was surprised when a small, damp cloth fell off his forehead.

"Oh!"

Looking over to the side, his eyes immediately met ones green as ivy.

"Arthur?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It never occurred to me to ask before but the one/two word paragraphs, did they confuse anyone? They are in fact the thoughts of the white stag as some of you have guessed and are just me trying to take the basic concept and simplifying it down to as few words as possible. So like the one that started this chapter is a reference to what happened in the last.
> 
> If I have confused any of you in the process of writing this, feel free to ask in a review or a private message! I promise I won't think it's dumb or anything. I'm still learning as a writer and if anything is unclear I'd love to know and explain.
> 
> * * *
> 
>  **Yong Soo: Rat** – – Rats are witty, curious, energetic, talkative, honest, strong willed, obstinate, charming, imaginative, ambitious, insightful, cunning, sentimental, spontaneous, are extremely perceptive and have good judgement. Rats enjoy living for the moment and seldom hold a grudge; easily adapt to situations and while enjoy giving advice, they seldom share any of their own problems. Enjoy being with friends and family, hate monotony so are always trying new things, talking to others or doing something. Though also hot-tempered, overly critical, pack-rat (never know when will need...) and overly emotional which cause them to have a severe fear of failing and lack of self-confidence.
> 
>  **Sadiq: Rooster** – Roosters are confident, motivated, loyal, trustworthy, blunt in own opinions, honest, very sociable, somewhat arrogant, organized, courageous, alert, perfectionist, aggressive, knowledgeable, benevolent and analytical. With their fairly big egos can be pushy, pompous and overbearing though mean well. Very proud of their homes and their work, take great joy in putting in work at home and at job (overwork a lot though), are detail oriented and have very high standards because of it. Good leaders and aren't afraid of a fight though the smallest failure or setback results in depression. Are always interested in new things: wanting to possess, analyze, touch, and whatnot to learn everything and anything about it.
> 
>  **Naga (Sadiq)** \- Most simply – half snake, half human. Female Nagas are Nagis or Naginis (Harry Potter anyone?) In old Buddhist writings, Nagas are connected typically with cobras or mysterious nobility. It is a term used for unseen beings associated with water and fluid energy, and also with persons having powerful animal-like qualities or conversely, an impressive animal with human qualities. Are said to take various forms – a giant serpent with many heads or snakes with the upper half of a human – Burmese Nagas ere even said to resemble crocodiles. Associated with water, are very wise, peaceable immortal beings and are dangerous when feel have been rude to or mistreated. Are said to carry the elixir of life and immortality and bestow of wealth to those the feel worthy. Have poisonous breath and possess a deadly venom in fangs they will use on any they feel guilty of horrible deeds, their skin regenerates (shedding) and can bestow rain
> 
>  **Basilisk (Yong Soo) –** Alleged to be hatched by a cockerel from a serpent’s egg or from an egg laid by a rooster and hatched by a toad. The origin of the word Basilisk means king – and the Basilisk is considered the king of serpents and the most poisonous creature on Earth. Appearance somewhat disputed as there is no way to see it and survive as a look is supposed to bring instant death. This has evolved into only looking into eyes though - could be medium-sized serpent or snake with head and legs of a rooster and wings (though this description is usually associated with cockatrices instead). Forehead could have white spot on head resembling a crown or three spikes or crown of head covered in feathers and scales. Most common appearance is snake, no more than 16 inches (51cm) with white mark on forehead (though in modern literature size is exaggerated for greater danger). All other snakes and spiders flee before it, its touch is acidic, and looking it in the eyes will result in death and its breath poisonous. Weaknesses are having stare reflected back, crowing of a rooster and weasels apparently can also bite to death.


	11. Chapter 11

Feliciano knew that he shouldn't have let Ludwig touch the bow.

He knew he shouldn't.

It had _Bad Idea_ (capital letters showing how terrible it was) written all over it.

But, for all his love for rules and order, Ludwig was also extremely curious and Feli should have guessed what he was about to do.

Shouldn't let him; especially after the human had nearly been drained of all his strength and magic fighting first the Naga then his poison. The innocent looking wood made his hair stand on end for some reason, so when Feli saw Ludwig go to grab it, he had tried to stop him.

However, before the words could leave his mouth or his hand could come into contact to draw him back, Ludwig had picked it up. Almost instantly, the weapon released a dark miasma while Ludwig's eyes rolled back in his head and sank to his knees as he let out a hair-raising scream, one echoed by the Naga trapped in the earth.

Feliciano froze, not knowing what to do.

What kind of dark magic was this? Should he touch Ludwig? Would doing so drag him under the curse as well? What if he could somehow get the bow out of his grasp without touching it directly? Would pain get him out of the spell? Was it only affecting his mind? How was it affecting Sadiq considering he wasn't touching the weapon? There was no time, no time to search for answers but he couldn't just drag them to cover... it was a problem with no solution.

* * *

Ludwig was in light.

Truly there was no other way of describing it, just infinite whiteness surrounding him. Was he right side up? Sideways? Honestly, Ludwig couldn't even really be sure if he was standing or floating.

“Hello?” He called, his voice echoing in the void and he began to walk. “Anyone here?”

 _Does anyone know where ‘here’ is?_ He added on silently.

“Is someone there?” a faint voice called echoing around.

“Yes!” Ludwig answered, looking around trying to find the source of the voice.

“Who?” The sound bounced off of invisible walls, seeming to come from everywhere at once.

“I’m...” Unsure of how much he should say - after all names had power - Ludwig trailed off before finishing lamely, “Ludwig. I’m Ludwig. Who are you?”

“I-” The voice sounded a little closer and Ludwig broke into a run. “I don’t know.”

He was closer now, he could see a dark speck on what could maybe be a horizon...

“Why don’t I know?”

He was closing in fast.

“Who am I?”

At least he now knew that wherever the hell he was defied any of the laws of physics as sitting upside down, or rather, coiled upside down on the ceiling, was Sadiq, the Naga.  Ludwig prepared to defend himself but when he saw his eyes...the Naga’s eyes were blank of any malice or knowledge; instead upon seeing him, his eyes opened with wonder and a hand slowly reached out to him.

“Do you know?”

**“YoU shOuLDn’T bE heRe!”**

Out of nowhere an enormous black shape came and tackled him.

Ludwig instinctively rolled with it and shot his fist up, knocking his assailant off him and whirling around into a defensive position.

A hissing shadow confronted him, its shape constantly changing and contorting and was rather disturbing to watch. Having recovered from the blow that sent it flying, it leaped once more at Ludwig, claws of sorts reaching forward to tear.

Easy to read.

So the Taurus Guardian jumped up and leaned his upper torso back to dodge the claws while his booted feet shot up and kicked the creature solidly in the stomach, sending it flying backwards once more. However, as their fight went on it became increasingly clear to Ludwig that he wasn't damaging whatever the hell the shadow was and that it was slowly getting stronger.

After a hit set _him_ flying, he landed by Sadiq, the Naga looking at him with empty eyes... Why was the Naga here?

 _Where_ was here?

Ludwig tried to keep his thoughts from distracting him as he got back up on his feet and braced for the next attack. As he once again danced out of the reach of the shadow creature, his mind raced. He was only fighting to defend himself at this point, trying to think his way out as clearly violence just wasn't working. What he knew... was that the creature was somehow feeding off his energy. He knew this as while he felt himself grow weaker, the shadow pushed back all the stronger...he also knew that it was becoming harder to think, to remember things when they came into contact...and that this was not in any way conducive to getting himself out of whatever situation he had found himself in.

_Think!_

What could he remember? 

What had happened before he had entered the white, this world of light?

His mind latched onto the word. The world was green most of the year with a sky that was blue most of the time with people who were mostly good. He had friends, family in the world. People who were counting on him. But for what? What was he doing that was so important?

Pain alerted him to the fact he should be paying better attention as only his instincts had saved him from getting more severely injured. He quickly looked down at his torn shirt and the slight cut on his...stomach. There was something missing there. A black spot about the size of his palm was normally in that spot...

That was when it clicked.

Feliciano. He was a Guardian. He was here because he picked up the weapon on the ground, some energy had dragged him into some mental plain which was why his mark was gone and his wound wasn't bleeding. Sadiq...Sadiq could be trapped here the same as he was. The creature could sap energy and apparently blur memory until it was difficult to think, it was likely at least a fragment of whichever demon was possessing their comrade.

It was clear that the Naga in here was not the same creature he had fought and if he could talk to him, perhaps he could find out why they were betraying them, how they had been corrupted and how to undo the possession.

Magic should work here, a simple teleportation spell should suffice.

Mind made up, he came to the conclusion that he needed to get out of here, and if he could, he was taking Sadiq with him.

Blocking a blow to the head, he whipped around and dashed forward, gathering his magic around him and reached, and the world swirled around them.

* * *

What should he do? Neither Ludwig nor Sadiq had so much as twitched in the past minute and he was jumping at every sound. Should he move them?

He was still frozen by uncertainty when both Mathias and Yong Soo came bursting from the undergrowth and out into the clearing fighting each other as they did so.

Well, his time was up.

Pressing his hands together firmly, he threw his arms out drawing on the water from the nearby stream and creating a solid wall between them and the other two. While Mathias could not be affected by the Basilisk's stare, he certainly could and if he looked into the snake's eyes, he would die and Ludwig would follow after because of their bond.

He couldn't let that happen.

So he grabbed a branch off the ground and used it to knock the bow away from his partner before lifting him as best he could and began to drag him to the river. While he couldn't counter the dark magic that had attacked the Taurus Guardian's mind, he could at least protect his body and the best way for him to do that was to get to the closest source of water...

Memory stirred somewhat in him, feeling as if this situation or something similar had happened before. But not recently, because as far as Ludwig and he could remember, they had been rarely permitted to leave the boundaries of the city or at least not without a guard. Could it be from before?

However before the Rabbit Guardian could get to his goal two things happened. One, both the Basilisk and the Draug got around his temporary wall (the Basilisk to attack him and the Draug to defend him) and two, Ludwig jerked back into consciousness with a gasp causing Feli to stumble and his eyes to open.

So close were they to the river that Feliciano could see his reflection...and that of Yong Soo and his deadly red eyes.

* * *

Mathias put on a burst of speed, scooping up one Guardian under each arm and running for it, quickly leaving the slower Basilisk behind.

He looked guiltily down at the frozen body under his left arm, poor kid didn't deserve this and Ludwig was appearing shell shocked and exhausted, considering how little he was resisting.

One benefit of being undead was unlimited stamina, not having to rest finally having at least one benefit (one of the greatest things Mathias felt about being a Guardian was gaining the ability to assume human form and _sleep_ , it was _glorious_ ) and so it was only an hour later that Mathias began to slow.

“We need to go back.” Ludwig mumbled, though clearly having gone beyond his limits.

“No we're not.” He retorted a bit more sharply than he intended, not really want to deal with this right now. “We're going to go find a nice, cozy cave to bunk in and you are going to sleep.”

“But...the others. Gilbert.” The Taurus groaned, struggling slightly to be put down and go back.  
“No. Right now you're no use to anyone, your magic is depleted and you're clearly dead on your feet. Besides, what about Feliciano?” Mathias retorted as he stopped and gently put first the slightly-heavier water elemental down followed by Ludwig, though he kept a steadying hand on him.

Ludwig looked down, clearly feeling guilt-ridden and not wanting to look at Feli. “That's why we need to go back. Possessed or not...” He swayed slightly but clenched his fists and growled “I can't let him get away with killing my partner and if I...”

“Whoa buddy, hold on there.” Mathias interrupted, grabbing his chin and forcing him to meet his eyes, “He's not dead or else you would be too. Remember? The entire life-span-sharing bit? He's alive, he's just petrified, and he didn't look Yong Soo directly in the eyes. Calm down.”

“He's alive?” Ludwig whispered before his knees buckled only sheer force of will having had kept him standing until that point.

“Yeah, yeah he is.” Mathias answered, being surprisingly gentle, “We just need to find someone who can reverse the petrification, so we need to go North. I am owed a favour or two and one of the best healers outside of Sarya lives there.”

“North?” Ludwig asked slowly, “You mean Aryca? I thought no one lived there, that it was inhabitable.”

“That's exactly what they want you to think.” Mathias answered, shadow of a smile on his face. “So?”

“I...” Ludwig began, uncertain look on his face causing the Draug to interrupt him one more.

“Gilbert will be fine, if he's with who I think he's with; he's in good company. You should know though, you got a better look then me.”

“What do you mean?” Ludwig asked, confused.

The Monkey Guardian gave him a strange look before his expression cleared. “Ah, right. Memory loss. Well, it's little known now and perhaps better kept that way, trees having ears and all that. Especially as there are bigger things to worry about right now and I could be wrong. Just know that he is safe.”

“...Alright.” The Taurus Guardian sighed before agreeing. “Alright. I trust you, we'll go North.”

“Good.” Mathias nodded before pushing him into the cave “Now sleep, I'll stand watch.”

“Okay.” Ludwig answered before adding on “But wake me after midnight, I'll take second watch.”

“There's no need.” Mathias responded, waving him off. “One of the perks of being undead. I'll wake you at dawn.”

The night passed quietly, though as always when he had nothing to do, his mind drifted back to that night. As with each night, it was like a whisper in mind, fading away the more he tried to listen, to hear the rest...

_Heart of ice and yearning_

_and Ancient hurt_

_will nature subvert_

_and leave the world burning..._

It seemed even after his betrayal, Erik continued to haunt him.

* * *

The mountain crossing was dangerous, more so than they were prepared for. But with the attack on the White Elephants, the group of caravans knew that they couldn't afford to stop to rest or to gather supplies.

So they pushed on.

The first few days weren't too bad, though they lost a caravan when the ground under one of the horse’s legs crumbled, sending it, the wagon and the other horse off the mountain side. Soon after they abandoned the wagons and all they couldn't carry but despite their heightened vigilance and caution, nothing could have prepared them for the storm that hit. The rain had come out of nowhere and had begun to rain so hard they couldn't see, never mind get to shelter.

Already Aadya was concerned for a number of those from the _Formosan Blue Magpies_ travelling with them as they had been in the south when they had had to flee and had thinner clothing on. Aadya had everyone put on any spare clothing they had or even fashion some from blankets as if hypothermia set in, there would be nothing they could do. Regardless, they then experienced their first losses as the rain was relentless and the clothing wasn't enough leaving them all shivering and numb.

It was almost like it couldn't get any worse, but then a rumbling sound alerted them to a mud slide. As they all urged aching limbs to move and scramble out-of-the-way, Aadya found himself thinking that if the Nichacs could not finish them off, it was quite possible that the weather would.

* * *

A clink of teeth signalled another very close,  _too close_ , call.

Lovino had fought the wolf demon a number of times _Before_. He knew Berwald had always been a fierce fighter, deadly and precise but it was like he was a completely different person now. Despite his fierce exterior, Berwald had always been 'soft as he would always hesitate before striking unless the person had managed to completely enrage him.

Now he was merciless and going for the kill each time.

If he ever had the chance, Lovino was going to torment the person that had turned the Guardians into this. As a royal guard he had worked with them a number of times and there was no trace left of their original personality, it was like they were just a mask to be worn.

He hoped that when this was all over that they would be able to go back to how they were, or as close to it as they could ever get.

The kitsune and wolf demon circled one another, blood dripping from various wounds as they deeked, lunged and snapped at each other, causing them to move further and further away from the fights in the clearing. War had a slight reach advantage in Berwald's half form with his broadsword but Antonio was levelling the playing field, shooting off any fire spells (his speciality) or earth ones whenever he could.

Neither side was giving quarter and soon the two powerful demons had nearly left Antonio behind. Lovino, noticing, allowed one of Berwald's blows to knock him back far enough that they had a moments reprieve and he growled at his Námo to “Get the fuck on bastard and hold on tight or we'll lose him.”

Antonio didn't need another invitation and quickly jumped on, Lovino taking the opportunity to change his size so that he was slightly bigger than the average sabre-tooth moose-lion and charged forward once more.

“Lovino, I...have an idea.” The Leo Guardian said after several minutes of heavy fighting. “Though I don't think you'll like it.”

“What!” Lovino snapped, hissing through clenched teeth as he tried to rake claws across the wolf demons chest.

“We've been steadily closer to the edge of a cliff, next time he tries to land a blow, be 'knocked' over it. We have no real reason to keep up this fight and at this rate we'll end up separated from the others or you'll end up killing each other. ” He elaborated.

“That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! How would we survive?” Lovino hissed quietly.

“Trust me Lovino, I'll catch us.” Antonio replied cheekily, waggling his fingers. “Magic remember?”

“...Fine. If we die though, I'll make your afterlife a living hell.” He agreed after a moment, “Also, you're still an idiot.”

“That's fine.” He grinned, holding tight to the thick fur beneath him, “let's do this.”

Sadly, his plan didn't quite work as possessed Ox Guardian followed them over the edge.

* * *

Captain Eduard and First Lieutenant Raivis were afraid, Colonel Lars had seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth.

Within the past ten hours they had both been taken to separate rooms and interrogated about the most random of things before being marched back to their quarters by an armed guard and made to pack their things.

They were being reassigned to separate commands.

In the few seconds they had made eye contact, both had agreed. This was not the Nichac they loved and were willing to fight for, to die for.

Something was very wrong.

Then when it was told to them that Colonel Lars had been stripped of his rank and was in a holding cell for high treason, to be executed on the triumphant return of the army...

Well, they took advantage of the full army mustering and marching out for Sarya and instead of going with them, they ran.

* * *

“Arthur?” A voice croaked and Arthur turned to see Francis's eyes finally open and looking straight at him.

 Arthur waited to see if Francis would say something else however, when it became clear he wouldn't, he answered.  “Yes?”

“You're...you're here?” Francis questioned softly, his tongue darting out to moisten dry lips.

“Yes,” he responded gently, “yes, I am here.”

“Why?” The Guardian questioned after a moment.

Arthur flushed a little. “Well, you see...my search for the Courts led me all across Sarya and I was just leaving the dryad's clearing when I came across you and you appeared to be in danger, captured if you will, so I helped.”

“Captured...by who?” It was clear that Francis was trying to piece everything back together, to have some sense sooth his fevered mind. “Where is everyone else? Where is here?”

“Roderich oddly enough, I don't know, I haven't seen them. You are in what was one of the greatest cities, the ancient Goblin city of Anmenros, which was flooded and since abandoned. Beyond that, I'm not entirely sure what's going on myself what's going on...Why the blazes Roderich was the source of such dark miasma confuses me, just as why he had you unconscious and slung over his shoulder. Especially as his behaviour and aura reminded me of someone else that I had known… Something very strange is going on here.”

Francis struggled to sit but when he nearly flopped backwards, his arms not supporting him, Arthur was quick to assist, propping him up against the now-empty barrel of mead he had found in searching the city. “Something...Something doesn't feel right.” He murmured, mind focused on this idea. “Not just with Roderich but with, well, with me. I don't feel right.”

Arthur flinched then shrunk into himself a little, clearly not wanting to talk about it but after a moment of internal debate he explained slowly. “I have an idea what might be the cause behind that... and I'll have you know I'm not too happy about it.  He paused here, eyebrows furrowing a little and his lips drawn in a thin line. “This isn't really your fault so don't be worried about me being mad, I just feel a little cheated. I mean, you were unconscious and I just gave it to you...no that sounds wrong.” He made a few bark noises, testing before switching into the common tongue once more. “Damn second language... Gave it up? You were in need and I had the only thing that could help... Hell, just...just look at your ankle.” The Selkie stuttered off, grumbling again in seal and taking a swig from his flask (which he now suspected was not full of water).

Even with his brain muddled from fever, Francis could tell something important had happened and so, reaching under the blanket, he drew his ankle up and felt his world turn upside down as he saw his mark. His now-complete mark.

He had bonded.

To Arthur.

A grumpy, fuzzy–eyebrowed Selkie with a sharp temper.

His fingers dug into his blanket instinctively as he tried to come to terms with what had happened and realized just what his blanket was. You bond to a Selkie by stealing or being given their seal skin... which Arthur had covered him with.

It proved too much for his fevered mind to handle and he heard Arthur's panicked voice echoing as though trapped in a tunnel as everything spun and went dark.

* * *

“KIKU” Lily shouted in anger as Elizabeta screeched into the howling wind as they chased after the escaping Griffon.

And you haven't heard something screech until you've heard a Harpy do it.

The bone curdling sound carried on the wind as they gained for both Harpies and Vila lived at higher altitudes and had evolved for speed whereas Griffons were larger in order to carry off large prey and were much slower.

It wasn't long before they were right on top of the other and instead of the more sinister pseudo-race they had going on, it became an all-out aerial war with each trying to outmanoeuvre the other.

From the ground, Vash could only watch helplessly as streaks of red appeared over his partner's and their ally's bodies and they drove each other ever higher and farther away from the others.

It was then that he noticed something.

The Aquarius Guardian had been doing his best to guess where the Griffon would be next and then to try to interfere after but from the ground, he could see that the spirit possessing Kiku was pushing, trying to get around the pair of demons and go back from the direction they had just come from.

What would happen if they continue to drive him away?

Drawing on his favoured element, he used the air magic to connect their minds. _Lily. Do you hear me?_ He called in his mind softly, not wanting to distract his partner but wanting to relay this information.

 _Little busy_. She responded, a bit tersely.

_I'll be brief then. Push him back, his movements aren’t right._

_What?_ She snapped, having just dodged Kiku's claws raking down her back.

 _When he dodges, he only goes back from the direction we came from._ Vash answered, messing as best he could with the air currents without fouling up the two women.

 _That is strange._ She mused, curiosity evident even in thought. _We'll try._

* * *

Francis slurped at the meagre broth Arthur had made, mentally dreading when the other attempted anything more complicated because it was burnt and not the best tasting.

And broth was pretty easy to make.

Arthur sat across from him, watching him like a hawk to make sure he ate it or to help him if he needed it or to watch his final moments as the poison took effect, who could say?

In an effort to distract him, Francis mused “The bond mark is oddly faint which is very strange as we've both acknowledged the bond between us now. Any ideas? Has this happened before?”

Arthur blinked surprised before his brows furrowed and he looked down as he adopted his thinking position – Francis taking the opportunity to add a liberal dose of a few spices to try to counteract the saltiness then chug it down while his partner couldn't see his expression.

Luckily it worked.

“No, I can't recall a single time it has. Each bond mark always came in jet black...perhaps it's because you are still recovering and it can't take as much magic as is needed to have it be as it should be?”

“Could be, I guess we'll have to wait and see then... On another note, will we be able to go soon? I'm concerned about the others and the strange actions of Roderich. Something is very strange and it's making me nervous.”

“Get better first or at least healthy enough to move around under your own power for more than a minute and we'll see.” Arthur responded drily. “Now, finish your broth.”

* * *

They had been running for days and they were barely ahead, only stopping for water and for an hour or two's sleep.

They were still a week's worth of marching from the mountains.

Eduard sighed before looking down at the farm below once more. They had precious little choice but he hated to do this to innocents, especially the less fortunate who would suffer for the loss of their only horse.

But they needed to get out and warn the other nations, even the hated Sarya. Something big was going on here and they were the ones who would have to tell what they had seen or else it may end up very badly.

How they were going to survive was uncertain as the Saryans harboured little love for them in turn and he had little hope they would listen but for now they needed to focus on getting that horse. They could worry about surviving the mountains and Saryans and everything else later.

The sun setting, he and Raivis stole down the hill and to the horse's paddock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case I've lost anybody
> 
>  
> 
> Gilbert (mage) / ? Aries/Dog  
> Francis (mage) / Arthur (Selkie) Libra/Snake  
> Antonio (mage) / Lovino (Nine-tail fox) Leo/Dragon  
> missing Guardian / missing Wild Prince ? Scorpio/Horse  
> Ludwig (mage) / Feliciano (water elemental) Taurus/Rabbit  
> Vash (mage) / Lily (Vila) Aquarius/Ram  
> Erik (mage) / Mathias (Draug) Virgo/Monkey  
> Tino (mage) / Berwald (Wolf demon) Gemini/Ox  
> Yao (mage) / Yong Soo (Basilisk) Sagittarius/Rat  
> Gupta (mage) / Sadiq (Naga) Capricorn/Rooster  
> Heracles (mage) / Kiku (Griffin) Pisces/Boar  
> Roderich (mage) / Elizabeta (Fury) Cancer/Tiger
> 
> Sins: Roderich – Envy, Yao – Gluttony, Erik – Pride, Heracles -Sloth , Tino – Wrath, Gupta - Greed  
> Horsemen: Berwald -War, Kiku- Famine, Sadiq – Pestilence, Yong Soo – Death


	12. Chapter 12

Arthur grumbled as he struggled once more to get a fire lit to boil water in order to sterilize some bandages and then after to make a rather ungrateful Francis broth. Oh yes, the stupid boy thought he was being all subtle adding a pinch of salt or more water but Arthur saw. It was hardly his fault that he never learned to cook because he was a selkie and  _ate all his food raw_ and that the human needed cooked food. In fact, he thought that all things considered, he was making a pretty decent cook considering his first attempt was three days ago.

His new partner (and wasn't that all kinds of strange) was looking better, though his skin was still clammy to the touch, he still experienced frequent mood swings and was nearly always exhausted. Which was pretty good considering the source of his sudden ill health.

Arthur had to take a calming breath before striking the flint and sparker again because just the thought of it made him protectively furious/murderous. The boy had been cursed and terribly at that, the dark miasma eating away at him.

He had first noticed when _he_ began to feel more tired despite having had enough sleep and then realized that he could feel their bond tugging at his energy and natural magic and leeching it.

Not entirely comfortable with the implications of that (that little bit of natural magic was what let him climb in and out of his seal skin), he looked deeper and tried to pull it back only for it to slip away...it felt slimy with malevolence. Contaminated with the same dark power he had seen in Francis. Following the bond to his partner, he wanted to vomit when his mind's eye saw how the dark tendrils were hooking into the wellspring of bright light that was the boy's spirit. In one of Francis's more lucid moments, he had gotten him to meditate and the sound the child had made upon discovering his magic and life force was slowly being consumed by dark energy would likely haunt Arthur until this was over.

Together they had taken what was yet untouched in addition to Arthur's own innate magic to shore up what protective boundaries and walls that they could. But it would not be enough, Arthur could not provide so much magic and energy indefinitely and Francis had too little experience and knowledge to improve the working. So while it was helping and allowing Francis to recover some of his strength, it bought them only a little more time.

He knew they needed to move on and leave the remains of Anmenros behind.

At least from that whole mess came a possible answer at least one of his questions; their bonding mark was not coming in fully as Francis's magic was unable to fully put forth the power to do so. If he was right, all the magic contaminating the boy was weakening the mark while the magic that was pushing back and shoring up what was left wasn't able to do much else.

Ultimately they needed an experienced and strong soul healer to repair the damage and also hopefully get rid of the curse completely. And unless the world had changed more than Arthur was aware of, there was only one place to find one of those...

The sparks finally catching the tinder pulls Arthur out of his thoughts and he gives a sigh of relief. With a task he could focus on the now rather than about Francis and where to go to next. Quickly he makes up the trout broth, thinking back on what Francis has done in the past and attempting to replicate the results which gives it a passable flavour. Still a bit salty...

It was edible; that would have to be enough.

Once Francis is fed, Arthur bundles him up as best he can and carries him pickaback to where two of the intact old Goblin tunnels remained. He paused for a moment and drew on his memory before taking the middle one, fairly sure it would bring them both to the surface.

He stopped fairly often to check on Francis but the magic they had woven seemed to be holding along with Francis's health; it seemed that he was sleeping or in a trance to keep an eye on the spell and reinforce it where he could. Thankfully after three or so hours of following the dark tunnels, Arthur was able to make out where it began to curve upwards and gave a sigh of relief. It wasn't that Francis was heavy, especially considering that Arthur was deceptively strong as selkies had to be to move easily in strong currents and deep water, it was more that Arthur had had more than enough of being underground.

Jumping up just a little to jostle his partner into a better carrying position and to get Francis's weight to sit a bit higher (he'd been sliding down), Arthur sped up a bit, eager to get back under the sun again. It took an uncountable amount of time before he began to see the slightest hint of light at the end of the passage and probably an hour or two before he was even remotely close to it's source.

As he approached the mouth of the tunnel, he was surprised to see the lack of vegetal growth but chose to instead just count his blessings as he stumbled out.

After he gently leaned Francis against a nearby boulder, he more-or-less collapsed to the ground, groaning as the movement brought his legs relief but caused his back to shriek a complaint. He looked down at the valley below, relieved that his memory hadn't failed him and that the tunnel had spat them out near Sarya's Northern borders.

He lay back into the sparse moss with a sigh, he would rest for ten minutes and then move on. He was staring up at the clouds when his vision was suddenly blocked by a small black cat with piercing green eyes. Startled he gave a small shout (why the hell was a house cat doing halfway up a mountain?) even as it meowed at him demanding, staring.

Not entirely sure what else to do and more than a little confused, he stared back.

Perhaps not the brightest of ideas, cats always win staring contests (it's a natural skill) and soon his eyes were watering and he had to blink. In that time the cat closed the distance and nipped his nose lightly before meowing at him imperiously once more.

Arthur sat then stood up with an indignant sound and swatted at the dratted thing before he blinked slowly before a thought occurred to him...could it be?

Turning to look at the cat, he saw it – her (if it were a male cat, he lacked the genitalia) – go over to Francis and climbed up onto his shoulder...

It was like as if a muscle he didn't know was seizing had suddenly been pummelled and massaged into submission as abruptly Francis stopped drawing on his magic and energy and he felt his legs give under him.

That was certainly not a cat.

* * *

It was terribly beautiful watching the trio fight, Vash thought as he stared at the aerial battle. Lily shifted between her forms, turning into a smaller swan to dodge attacks or swooping high up and changing into a wolf and dropping onto the Gryphon's back before flying away in her true form, buoyed by the wind. Elizabeta, by contrast, was no less graceful but where Lily was a feather floating in the breeze, the Fury was a hurricane. She didn't dodge or dance around the enraged gryphon but continued to press forward and forced him to dodge the knots of her whip and the points of her claws. 

He wistfully remembered how not so long ago, a century ago now, the three would playfully flit about when the Guardians trained, playing tag and pulling lightly at feathers (or snakes in Eli's case) as they darted past each other. That playful edge was gone and instead of laughter and light oaths of vengeance, such passes now drew blood and howling cries.

Hearing some crunching noises, Vash broke his eyes away from the fight for a moment before he saw the Gryphon's horse standing placidly at the edge of the clearing and grazing from nearby bushes. Looking back at the fight that was getting further and further away as Eliza and Lily continued to thwart the possessed Boar Guardian's return, he knew what he needed to do. Figuring the horse would be skittish, he turned so that the horse was just visible at the corner of his eyes and began to approach it from the side (so it could easily see him) and kept his body tilted away. Once he got close enough and it hadn't backed away, he offered a hand to sniff and when he wasn't rejected, he turned to face the horse and slowly put a hand on its – her – flank.

It took a few minutes of cajoling and gentling before the palomino would allow him in the saddle and by then he could barely see the three fighting. He gently tugged on the reins before tapping his heels into its flanks to prompt the horse to move.

They had nearly left the clearing when an ear splitting scream rang out causing Vash to jump and the horse to spook. As she jumped and sidled, Vash frantically looked around for the source (was it Lily? Was she hurt?) before he then heard a crunch followed by the horse shouting in pain and rearing. Quickly dismounting and trying to calm her, he felt panic surge as he was able to make out two shapes free-falling from the sky and the other diving for the one. Since one of the falling was clearly the gryphon, he hoped that Eli or Lily would be able to help the other as there was nothing he could do.

He looked at the poor palomino horse over to see what had caused her to rear and saw the forgotten scales in pieces under foot. He coaxed her over to the side and got her to give him each of her feet so he could pick out the shard and heal the injury; thankful for the magic that allowed him to do so without getting kicked so soon after a fright.

Once she was healed, not wanting to linger any more than he had, Vash picked up all the broken pieces so he could melt it down later and mounted the horse again just as a light rain began to fall.

* * *

“He's so still.” Ludwig mused the next morning, still in shock and staring in horror at his partner, mindlessly eating the food that Mathias was putting in front of him.

“Yeah, that's what happens when you get petrified.” Mathias said absently without even thinking about it before freezing when he realized what he'd said and looking contrite. “Er...I mean... Erm, yeah; actually, I got nothing. Not much of a _day_ person I suppose...I'm going to go over there now.” He said pointing and quickly wandering off.

Right, he had known Mathais _Before_ , maybe they had even been friends. Maybe that was why he was acting so strange; he was treating him with the ease and familiarity of at least a comrade-at-arms and was expecting him to react and act the same. It was possible, likely even.

Or maybe Mathias was like Gilbert in that he had a terminal case of blunt and foot-in-the-mouth disease. If that was the case, the awkwardness was likely aided by the fact that he was undead and like others who classified to that label tended to be indifferent/forgetful to modern societal genres. It was a bit hard to say as he'd only known the Draug for about two days.

He reached a shaking hand out beside him to his partner's stomach to trace their bond mark, to reassure himself that it was still there. After all Feli was water, even in human form he was bubbly and always moving, being turned to stone and forced into stillness was an antithesis of all his friend was...The mark proved (along with his own survival) that his partner was still alive and this was temporary.

 _Temporary, impermanent._ He reminded himself over and over, the fear still burrowing under his skin, fingers gently tracing the Rabbit and Taurus again and again. _Temporary, impermanent;_ Feli would be up and moving and hanging off him again soon enough. It didn't matter that he couldn't sense him: a big, gaping black hole where instead he should be able to feel the water elemental's life force; Feli was going to be _fine_ , this was _impermanent_.

And still his hands shook.

Oh gods, he was going to be next to useless (or _worse_ , a **liability** ) until he got his partner back.

 _'Hmm? You will be? ...Oh, how odd.'_ Mused a mental voice, causing Ludwig to jump. He hadn't thought that. ' _Who are you?'_

 _'Shouldn't I be asking that?'_ Ludwig thought as panic set in and he signalled frantically at Mathias. ' _Who? No, how are you even in my head?!'_

 _'Your voice seems familiar,'_ the warm baritone with a slight burr replied, _'I believe I might have even known you before...Do you not recall?'_   

 _'If I remembered I wouldn't be freaking out now would I?'_ Ludwig snarled, hearing voices in your head, particularly ones that didn't sound like your own was never a good sign. _Ever_.

 _'I-I'_ The voice slurred, as though drunk or drugged, _“You. You made me, made me **warm**. You called...I think, I think I know you.'_

How was this his life? He should've just stayed in Sarya, then Feli wouldn't be petrified, Gilbert wouldn't be lost and he wouldn't be so far over his head, so far in the deep end that he couldn't even see the shore. Granted things weren't the best, but at least there he'd never nearly died not once but thrice, never lost his partner or family and never been so cold, wet and hungry all at once.

Mathias was beside him and looking at him confused, noting his panic but being unable to determine the source behind it.

“There's...I'm hearing someone else's voice in my head!” Ludwig hissed before he replied to the voice. _'Well I don't know you. Do you have a **name** or something?'_

Mathias started at that and looked around a bit, as though looking for the source or something he could do before shrugging helplessly and asking “Is there something I can do? Is it hurting you?”

_'I was there in the endless and it was cold, you woke me from the white.'_

The white? His memories of being trapped wherever-the-hell-that-had-been were a little sketchy... Then it hit him, the shadow creature! The demonic little thing, he hadn't wanted to leave the other behind with it... “Sadiq?” He asked out-loud, incredulous earning a surprised look from Mathias.

 _'Was that my name?'_ The voice slurred again, sleepily. _'I have not heard that in a long time.'_

Oh Gods he was _so_ out of his depth...Now what?

* * *

To Aadya's great relief, they were almost through the mountain pass.

They had moved faster once they had abandoned the wagons and any of the heavier, unusable goods but had been overwhelmed with ill luck. There was only a little more than half of their number that survived the terrible cold, lack of immediately consumable food (they could not get a fire to start) and clean water, the terrible storms, rock slides, mudslides, avalanches and crumbling pathway. It was evident that something much bigger was at hand, Aadya suspected that somehow the Nichacs had relented a bit in their ever rigid principles and had employed (forcibly or not) some magic users as there was no way that all that had passed naturally. All of them had crossed the mountain ranges before and had had very little trouble (comparably); if he was right, the Nichacs were resorting to drastic measures to ensure that they were dead and unable to pass any information on. That, or the cold and lack of sleep was making him paranoid and was allowing delirium to take reign of his thoughts.

Regardless they were almost out, almost safe.

However, it would appear that he spoke too soon as numerous inky black creatures with great claws and enormous mouths filled with thousands of teeth detached themselves from the looming shadows of the mountains and attacked.

In shock, he nearly didn't react when he heard Steven shout “DUCK AADYA!”. That, quite frankly, confused the hell out of Aadya because that, that was not a duck. Luckily the other knocked him to the side and away from the clawed hand that came down where his head used to be.

Shaking off his stupor (he could have a meltdown later), Aadya tightened his grip on his staff which he then smashed into the head of a nearby creature before fighting back to back with his old friend.

They had come too far to die here; he refused to.

They held their own for a time, each member having been trained for combat as their caravans were targets for thieves everywhere, but considering that they were already tired and worn down from the trek, it was clear that this would not last. Aadya's staff felt heavy, would this be the end of his people?  Of their culture? Would their failure here result in Nichac taking over the continent?

A broad hand knocked his weapon out of his hands before backhanding him into the cliff-face and just before he blacked out, he heard a terrible growl.

* * *

Clearly the demon possessing the Ox guardian was none too bright or a lot more reckless than Antonio expected. Or was just plain crazy, which was always an option.

You'd kinda have to be to jump off a cliff.

Not that that didn't apply to Lovi and him, Antonio thought ruefully, though at least they had a plan to land safely.

Speaking of which, Antonio's fingers flicked out and began sketching symbols in the air as he drew upon the elements of air and earth to come to his aid. While neither of them was his strong suit (fire would not help here), he was able to cause the air to thicken causing their descent to slow and for the earth below to soften and yield.

Berwald howled in fury as he hurtled past them before he slammed his sword into the cliff-face to slow himself down, sending rocky shrapnel everywhere.

Despite all their efforts, they still hit the ground violently and hard. Berwald hit first with an audible crunch and when he stood back up, it was clear that both his legs were broken with the left having bone protruding through the skin. When Lovi landed a few seconds later (with the Leo guardian on his back), due to Toni's spell work the ground sank before rebounding; throwing them back up a few meters into the air. When they landed the second time, it was to unforgiving packed soil and hard rocks.

Even while bracing himself once more to fight, Antonio felt a surge of pity and anger for the wolf demon as the spirit possessing him did nothing to bind or heal the injuries or even allow the body he was wearing any moments rest.

The fight resumed with the same savagery as before though this time, it was Antonio and Lovino who had the advantage. Seeing as Berwald was slowed a little and weakened by his injuries now the pair, despite having less combat experience, were able to keep up. However, that didn't mean they got careless.

Despite some of his movements being a little jerky and off, the Ox Guardian injured was just about as dangerous and quick as he had been before. Soon they were made to dodge teeth, claws and sword as they tried to reply with attacks of their own.

Ultimately, they got lucky.

First, hampered by his broken legs, when Berwald swung his blade at Antonio he missed as he simultaneously lunged for Lovi to wrap a hand around his throat and then a scream rent the air that had the demon flinch. Tony took the opportunity to dash in close and, punching his hands forward together and then flicking his fingers out (drawing his arms apart), he threw the wolf demon back with an enormous explosion. This slammed him back into the rocks and had him slump into unconsciousness.

Not knowing what else to do as he couldn't let just let his fellow Guardian die from gangrene, Antonio cautiously slunk over and murmured a delayed healing spell for the wolf (not for the possessing demon, for Berwald) before he and Lovi took off to get back to the others.

They ran through the densely packed trees and bushes; trying to put some distance between them and the demon while also trying to find a way back up.

About ten minutes after, Lovi's ears pricked as he heard soft whimpering sounds coming from nearby. He then quickly alerted Antonio and together they decided to investigate, loath to leave an injured creature to suffer when they were able to do something about it. Seconds later though, they were startled to find instead a grounded Kiku in his human form slumped against a tree.

Quickly they stepped into defensive positions but the gryphon didn't move at all. Instead he just sat there lifelessly, staring at his hands with a terribly lost expression and... were those tears running down his cheeks?

Despite Lovi hissing at him to _don't you dare you stupid dumb **idiot** , do you not remember fighting one of these assholes minutes ago? _Antonio went with his gut instinct and hesitantly inched forward and when the Boar Guardian's eyes remained blank and... unseeing, he took another step and then again until he could crouch down, out of arms reach, in front of the other. He took a sharp breath and froze when he saw his bond mark.

Any time they had faced a possessed Guardian with a visible mark, there was always a blood red hourglass superimposed over a barely pairing bond symbol. But the Gryphon's mark was notably darker while the hourglass was barely visible. But still there.

When Antonio straightened and began to back up to where an irate Lovi was, Kiku darted forward and caught his sleeve in a loose grip. Startled, Antonio took two steps back while the other followed in a way reminiscent of a fawn taking its first steps before Lovi darted between them and knocked his hand away with a snarl. The fox's posture was fully hostile having read the movement as unfriendly (Antontio was _his_ ) but, contact lost, Kiku just sat back down with a broken sound and resumed staring into space.

Lovi's ears went from being back to plastered against his skull and his tail lashed nervously as his growl faded into an uncertain whine. Antonio guessed that since he was now close to the gryphon, that he could see what he had, the Boar Guardian's eyes were empty. There was no malevolence and anger like they had seen before or up close with Berwald but there didn't seem, well, that anyone else was home.

Not sure what else to do – it wasn't like they could just _leave_ him – Antonio gently picked him up pickaback while Lovi took point and scouted ahead and around, making sure that no one could sneak up on them.

They walked and walked, Lovi darting away and back and around before running into the trees ahead until he didn't come back. Antonio thought nothing of it at first but when after twenty minutes he didn't reappear, he began to panic, his heart in his throat.

In case he had vanished due to an attack or ambush, he leaned Kiku against a tree and cast a quick spell of concealing and sleep before he began to quickly follow the trail his partner left behind.

In a few minutes, he couldn't help but stop and stare at the carnage before him. There were piles of the odd ink demons they had encountered before while the human and equine corpses were being separated to be buried or be cremated he supposed.

Forgetting that if something had happened to Lovino that he would also be dead, he slid down the hill as he looked around frantically for his partner and ran over the second he spotted that russet fur.

Lovino was talking to an exhausted and gaunt looking young man with a bandaid on his nose and an odd hat that curled on the one side. He looked up when he heard him run over and when he did Antonio felt his stomach drop all the way to his toes again as if the fox was capable of going white with shock and fear, he would be. As it was his ears and tail dropped while his eyes were wide so that the whites were visible.

"They're coming" Lovino said numbly, the terrible words falling heavily off his tongue. "Oh Gods, they're coming to annihilate us."


	13. Chapter 13

Hey guys,

Sorry for going so long without an update - I was in my final year of uni and have had a lot on my plate between my part-time job, personal things, school readings and essays

In good news AM DONE MY DEGREE NOW! (WAHOOOOO) which means I finally have time to work on these

On the other hand, am still working parttime and am job hunting which means I don't have as much time as I would like.

Anyway, I hope to be updating this story by the first week of June at the latest so thank you for sticking around - THIS STORY WILL BE FINISHED, IT IS JUST A MATTER OF WHEN :P

Thanks ladies, gents and distinguished others :D

ehcanuck


End file.
